Why Quasars are so Awesome | Space Time

Quasars ... the most metal thing in the universe.

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When Quasars were first discovered the amount of light pouring out of such a tiny dot in space seemed impossible. A hysterical flurry of hypothesizing followed: swarms of neutron stars, alien civilizations harnessing their entire galaxy’s power, bright, fast-moving objects being ejected by our own galaxy’s core. But by the 1980’s we were converging on the most awesome explanation. It goes a little like this: Take a black hole of millions to billions times the mass of the sun. Where from? It turns out every decent-sized galaxy has one at its core. Now drive gas into the galactic core. One way this can happen is when galaxies merge and grow. That gas descends into the waiting black hole’s gravitational well and gains incredible speed on the way. It is swept up in a raging whirlpool around the black hole that we call an accretion disk, where its energy of motion is turned into heat. The heat-glow of the accretion disk is so bright that we can see quasars to the ends of the universe.

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Written and hosted by Matt O’Dowd
Produced by Rusty Ward
Graphics by Grayson Blackmon

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[ThePain]

i have no clue what he is even saying 90% of the time but i love it!

[GoldenKingStudio]

"But I don't just study them because they are cool."

Let's be honest, that is the main reason, though.

[ChrisBrengel]

"They're like the fire-breathing bat-winged vampire rainbow zebra unicorns of astrophysical phenomena."
How have I been able to get through life without this image in my head?

[vonneely]

*Quasars*: Making the Death Star look like an ant fart since 2, 000, 000, 000BC.

[althomas]

Matt, whatever they're paying you, it's not enough.The topics are well-written, thorough and presented clearly in a relaxed manner. You always do an excellent job. Thanks!

[MitchTH]

*_Milkdromeda: The Last Quasar_*

_Coming soon._

[NTmatter]

This confidently and concisely answers one of the questions from the Space Core entrance exam: "What does the red spectrum tell us about quasars?" It also delves into some of Mr. Rimmer's further questions, "What is a spectrum, what is a red one,
why is it red, and why is it so frequently linked with quasars?"

[weldin]

When my dad was in college he needed one of those easy classes for credit so he took a class on quasars & black holes in the universe. He was not a science student, and he took a class on astrophysics because he thought it would be easy. (facepalm)

[EchoLC]

1:28
[Insert joke here about something being considered metal from an astronomer's point of view not being all that impressive because it only implies it's not just hydrogen or helium.]

[breannathompson]

If the universe decides to destroy earth by quasar, I would be okay with it.

[tobsmonster]

This video reminded me of a book I read as a child. It was the '92 edition of the book, originally published in '87. On a page called 'Galaxy's that look like stars' was an illustration of a blurry white/blue blob. They called it a quasar, though the style of writing suggested there was still some speculation about exactly what that meant at the time. I remember the thought of what that big, bright, high-speed blob actually was always gripped me.

[alanmcrae]

Excellent presentation! Your videos are the best place to absorb some high level views of astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, quantum mechanics, and so much more. You are a treasure to all who thirst for knowledge about the Cosmos...

[redvine]

“Space stuff is awesome”

- that’s as much as I was able to follow

[danielsoltesz]

"The most METAL of all the space things!" :D

[Coridimus]

Did... did you say "close to my *HEARTS*"?

Are you saying you are a time lord!?

[StephenJohnson-jbxe]

When my interest in the cosmos began as a young boy, black holes were theoretical but I don't think anyone knew quite where to find them. Pulsars, neutron stars and quasars were the strangest and most exciting thing we knew of, again there were lots of theories about them. This is a nice update on how much our knowledge of the cosmos has increased since I was a child. Of course gravity waves is another exciting thing to have been detected and confirmed.

[TFrills]

I can just imagine being a sentient life form several billion years from now after the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies collide and looking up to the night sky to see a giant quasar beam coming from a visible galactic center, carving the entire night sky in half, from horizon to horizon.

[esra_erimez]

fire breathing bat winged vampire rainbow zebra unicorn

[Azqalihm]

3:56 Aliens harnessing the power of an entire galaxy sounds cooler tbh.

[DisturbedVette]

Holy shit, I forgot how big our universe is.