There is nothing in the cosmos as dazzling as a quasar. Though smaller than our solar system, a quasar emits more light than an entire galaxy, sending out a beacon that can be seen 10 billion light-years away. Quasars are also thought to be uncommon, distant objects, typically found no closer than one billion light-years from Earth.
Now it appears possible that there may be more of these remarkable bodies than anyone had ever thought. The reason the quasars haven’t been spotted until now? They’re pointed the wrong way.
No one knows for certain just what a quasar is. It looks like a single point of light (the name quasar is derived from quasi-stellar object), yet most astronomers agree that it is probably a galaxy with a black hole sitting at its center. Gas and dust falling toward the hole, they believe, is intensely heated, creating a brilliant beam of ...
