Which came first: A galaxy or the supermassive black hole at its center? Thanks to a misfit quasar, astronomers have some new clues. Quasars are particular kinds of black holes that release incredibly intense jets of energy, and scientists spied this one five billion light-years away.
To their surprise, the astronomers found that unlike most quasars, this one was ''naked'' and not situated at the centre of a galaxy. However, there was a companion galaxy close to it creating new stars at a frantic rate equivalent to about 350 suns per year [The Telegraph]
. The naked quasar, then, could be the spark that's setting off a blaze of activity in that galaxy.
The astronomers think the black hole is powering star formation in the nearby galaxy by spraying its jets of high-energy particles toward it. In fact, the quasar could have triggered the galaxy's formation in the first place ...
