Since their discovery 60 years ago, quasars have generally been considered the brightest, most powerful objects in space. Despite being studied for decades, researchers have never been able to understand what caused these brilliant events. A new study may finally shed light on the mysterious origins of quasars and how they formed.
In the new study, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, researchers detail how quasars form when galaxies collide. This mystery of the event that triggers a quasar’s bright and iconic energy release has been one of space’s greatest enigmas.
Why do quasars form?
According to the new paper, researchers used deep imaging observations from the Isaac Newton Telescope in La Palma to observe warped structures in the outermost regions of galaxies inhabited by quasars.
The thinking generated by this new research suggests that quasars are formed when galaxies collide with each other. These events occur when supermassive black holes near the centers of galaxies collide. This gas often orbits beyond the black hole, beyond its reach.
But some of these collisions push gas into black holes. And just before the black hole consumes gas, it releases a massive burst of energy and radiation, thought to be the origins of quasars that have puzzled scientists for decades.
Some quasars are so powerful that they expel the rest of the gas in the galaxy, rendering the galaxy unable to form new stars for billions of years. Some quasars create powerful energy jets. This study also draws attention as it is the first time that researchers have imaged a quasar sample of this size using such a high sensitivity.
The research builds on observations of 48 quasars, as well as the galaxies that host these quasars and more than 100 non-quasar galaxies. The researchers discovered that galaxies with quasars are more likely to interact or collide with other galaxies, which helps explain the origin of these quasar events.
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