Measuring the black hole environment of a quasar nucleus
Monday, October 22, 2012 - 06:30
in Astronomy & Space
(Phys.org)—Quasars are among the most powerful energy sources known—some are as luminous as one hundred thousand Milky Way galaxies. Astronomers know that quasars have massive black holes at their cores and believe that matter falling in to the environment of the black hole powers the quasar's tremendous luminosity—but the details remain uncertain. No one is quite sure, for example, how quasars form, how they develop into such luminous monsters, or how their massive black holes and environments become so bright.