Dr Jonny Pierce, post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Hertfordshire, explains: Quasars are important to astrophysicists because, due to their brightness, they stand out at large distances and therefore act as beacons to the earliest epochs in the history of the Universe. It’s exciting to observe these events and finally understand why they occur-but thankfully Earth won’t be anywhere near one of these apocalyptic episodes for quite some time.” Professor Clive Tadhunter, from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, said: “Quasars are one of the most extreme phenomena in the Universe, and what we see is likely to represent the future of our own Milky Way galaxy when it collides with the Andromeda galaxy in about five billion years. The study has provided a significant step forward in our understanding of how these powerful objects are triggered and fueled. By comparing observations of 48 quasars and their host galaxies with images of over 100 non-quasar galaxies, researchers concluded that galaxies hosting quasars are approximately three times as likely to be interacting or colliding with other galaxies. This is the first time that a sample of quasars of this size has been imaged with this level of sensitivity. The ignition of a quasar can have dramatic consequences for entire galaxies-it can drive the rest of the gas out of the galaxy, which prevents it from forming new stars for billions of years into the future. Collisions between galaxies drive the gas towards the black hole at the galaxy center just before the gas is consumed by the black hole, it releases extraordinary amounts of energy in the form of radiation, resulting in the characteristic quasar brilliance. They also contain substantial amounts of gas-but most of the time this gas is orbiting at large distances from the galaxy centers, out of reach of the black holes.

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Quasar outer space phenomena