The term quasar was first used in an article by astrophysicist Hong-Yee Chiu in May 1964, in Physics Today, to describe certain astronomically puzzling objects: [12] So far, the clumsily long name "quasi …

Jun 3, 2025 · Quasars occur when immense amounts of matter fall into a supermassive black hole, spiraling around it in the form of a disk before entering.

Dec 29, 2025 · Quasar, an astronomical object of very high luminosity found in the centres of some galaxies and powered by gas spiraling at high velocity into an extremely large black hole.

Oct 19, 2023 · Quasars are the remarkably bright cores of active galaxies in the distant universe, they are an extreme form of what astronomers call "active galactic nuclei", or AGN for short. An active …

Oct 29, 2024 · Learn what a quasar is in astronomy, how it forms, types of quasars, and what they tell us about the early universe.

Quasars are a subclass of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), extremely luminous galactic cores where gas and dust falling into a supermassive black hole emit electromagnetic radiation across the entire …

Apr 14, 2025 · A quasar is an extremely bright galactic core powered by a supermassive black hole, emitting massive energy as gas spirals inward, outshining entire galaxies.

Oct 22, 2025 · Quasars, short for quasi-stellar radio sources, are extremely bright and distant celestial objects that emit massive amounts of energy. They are considered to be the most luminous objects …

In those cases, astronomers call the AGN a “quasar” or “blazar”. If the jets aren’t pointing toward Earth or the black hole doesn’t produce jets, the AGN might still be bright, but take on a different look.

Mar 16, 1998 · The word 'quasar' is a contraction of 'quasi-stellar radio source'. The first quasars were discovered in the early 1960s, when astronomers measured their very strong radio emissions.