Quasars

 “A quasar (/ˈkweɪzɑːr/ KWAY-zar) is an extremely luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. The emission from an AGN is powered by a supermassive black hole with a mass ranging from millions to tens of billions of solar masses, surrounded by a gaseous accretion disc. Gas in the disc falling towards the black hole heats up and releases energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The radiant energy of quasars is enormous; the most powerful quasars have luminosities thousands of times greater than that of a galaxy such as the Milky Way.^[2][3] …” (Wiki)

***

When I saw this image above, the word “QUASAR” came to mind. Haven’t heard that word in quite awhile, but after researching it a bit, I think I better understand part of the image significance here.  If you look closely at the image’s upper third, you see a ring of light around a dark center point; and that light ring is radiating large bands of light from it—illuminating the clouds around it. (Partial solar eclipse image maybe?)

If this were a true quasar image rather than just an optical camera effect, the ring of light would be the actual spiraling ‘accretion disc’ to that center black hole that is sucking all universal gaseous mass into it, because as a true black hole sucks that matter into the hole itself (which is similar to released bathtub water spiraling down the drain), the increasing velocity and fast rising temperature of the spiraling mass (called ‘the accretion disc’) creates enormous quantities of electromagnetic energy.

Here’s another definition before I go farther:

“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 galaxy is one in which the central supermassive black hole is consuming large amounts of matter. The infall of matter into the black hole is so great that all the material can’t enter the black hole at the same time and so it forms a queue as a spiraling accretion disk. 

The matter — in the form of huge clouds — falls into the disk, with the inner parts of the cloud closer to the black hole orbiting faster than the outer parts (just like planets closer to the sun orbit faster than those farther away). This creates a shear force that twists the clouds, causing them to bump into their neighbors as they move around the black hole at velocities ranging from 10% of the speed of light up to over 80%. This friction from fast-moving gas clouds generates heat, and the disk becomes so hot — millions of degrees — that it shines brightly. 

Some of the material in the disk is also funneled away from the black hole in a highly luminous, magnetically collimated jet. The hot accretion disk and the jet combine to make the nucleus of the active galaxy shine so bright that it can be seen far across the universe…” (www.space.com/17262-quasar-definition.html)

***

Now as I’ve read, the closest black hole and accompanying quasar are 750 million light years away—or are 750 million light years IN THE PAST because what we can see at present has taken that long to reach our eyes.

But what does all of this mean to us?

For me, when I see something of this unfathomable and nearly inconceivable magnitude for my little brain to handle, I feel minuscule in the face of such enormity and existential importance. I had a similar feeling writing “It’s Been Strange” exploring the Earth’s and humanity’s evolution over eons of existence. (Check out the chart of evolution on that and see how short a time we’ve actually been around.)

When we can zoom out of our own little personal day-to-day dramas over totally insignificant issues, and properly place ourselves in the larger picture of all known existence, we are suddenly struck by how microscopic we actually are to the overall workings of the Universe, or even to LIFE itself.

It’s totally mind-blowing.

So for whatever reason “Quasars” came into my mind this morning, I find it all very humbling. Maybe I needed a reminder.