# data[].attributes.headline
Quasars are a type of extremely dense black holes that look
like stars because of all the energy they produce. That's why they were named
quasars. Quasar is short for Quasi-Stellar Object. Quasars are actually much
brighter than stars and the best known quasar is 3C 273. Besides being one of
the closest quasars to our galaxy (It's about 3 billion light-years away), its
also one of the brightest quasars in the known galaxy and in our own sky. In
fact, 3C 273 creates one quadrillion times more light than out own sun! 3C 273
emits all types of electromagnetic waves though, including radio waves, x-rays,
infrared, visible, ultraviolet, and even gamma waves. It is located in the
constellation Virgo and is know to emit jets of energy made of electrons. This
energy is created when the accretion disk around the black hole heats up to
thousands of degrees, forming plasma and blasting out radiation and magnetic
waves, forming two tornadoes of material that extend out of the flat ends of
the accretion disk. Scientists have now realized that quasars, blazars, and
radio galaxies are all the exact same object, just seen from different angles,
since we can't change our view on objects. When Earth is facing one side of the
accretion disk at an angle we see a quasar. Facing the entire flat side of the
accretion disk with the one of the extragalactic jets pointing straight at
Earth we see a blazar. When the edge of the accretion disk is facing Earth we
used to call it a radio galaxy, but now all 3 types are classified as quasars.
All quasars are black holes that simply have highly active galaxies revolving
around them. In fact, The supermassive black hole at the scanter of our galaxy
may, at one point, have been classified as a quasar itself until it ran out of
mass to feed from. It is believed that early galaxies with supermassive black
holes at the center could have started out as quasars but as the galaxy begins
to spin and expand the supermassive black hole runs out of nearby mass to feed
from and create energy from so the electromagnetic jets dissipate and the black
hole creates less energy and becomes a normal spiral galaxy over the next few
billion years. Many things are still unkown about quasars, such as why the
suddenly begin to start and stop emitting radio waves, why they travel so fast
through the universe (some quasars can travel up to 1/3 the speed of light),
and why they are so much brighter than normal galaxies, even when most quasars
are extremely far from Earth. Even though many questions are still unanswered
about quasars and 3C 273, ever since they were discovered 60 years ago they
have been helping us discover the history of our own galaxy and predict its
future.

# data[].attributes.subject
Quasars are a type of extremely dense black holes that look
like stars because of all the energy they produce. That's why they were named
quasars. Quasar is short for Quasi-Stellar Object. Quasars are actually much
brighter than stars and the best known quasar is 3C 273. Besides being one of
the closest quasars to our galaxy (It's about 3 billion light-years away), its
also one of the brightest quasars in the known galaxy and in our own sky. In
fact, 3C 273 creates one quadrillion times more light than out own sun! 3C 273
emits all types of electromagnetic waves though, including radio waves, x-rays,
infrared, visible, ultraviolet, and even gamma waves. It is located in the
constellation Virgo and is know to emit jets of energy made of electrons. This
energy is created when the accretion disk around the black hole heats up to
thousands of degrees, forming plasma and blasting out radiation and magnetic
waves, forming two tornadoes of material that extend out of the flat ends of
the accretion disk. Scientists have now realized that quasars, blazars, and
radio galaxies are all the exact same object, just seen from different angles,
since we can't change our view on objects. When Earth is facing one side of the
accretion disk at an angle we see a quasar. Facing the entire flat side of the
accretion disk with the one of the extragalactic jets pointing straight at
Earth we see a blazar. When the edge of the accretion disk is facing Earth we
used to call it a radio galaxy, but now all 3 types are classified as quasars.
All quasars are black holes that simply have highly active galaxies revolving
around them. In fact, The supermassive black hole at the scanter of our galaxy
may, at one point, have been classified as a quasar itself until it ran out of
mass to feed from. It is believed that early galaxies with supermassive black
holes at the center could have started out as quasars but as the galaxy begins
to spin and expand the supermassive black hole runs out of nearby mass to feed
from and create energy from so the electromagnetic jets dissipate and the black
hole creates less energy and becomes a normal spiral galaxy over the next few
billion years. Many things are still unkown about quasars, such as why the
suddenly begin to start and stop emitting radio waves, why they travel so fast
through the universe (some quasars can travel up to 1/3 the speed of light),
and why they are so much brighter than normal galaxies, even when most quasars
are extremely far from Earth. Even though many questions are still unanswered
about quasars and 3C 273, ever since they were discovered 60 years ago they
have been helping us discover the history of our own galaxy and predict its
future.

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In this short video explainer, Universe Today publisher Fraser Cain investigates the most powerful objects in the Universe: quasars. In just the last few decades, our understanding of quasars has developed in leaps and bounds. We now know what they are. And so will you.