The universe has mysterious objects, many of which astronomers are still trying to figure out. One of the most mysterious objects out there is quasars. Astronomers still have much to know about them, and new discoveries add more to the mystery. Some distant quasars are said to have giant glowing halos on them.
Astronomers are looking at these quasars since they have an added dimension on them, as they have giant glowing halos as well. The astronomers are using the MUSE instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to study these quasars. The halos that have been observed are gases surrounding these quasars.
Quasars are some of the most luminous objects in the universe due to the massive black holes at their center, according to Science Daily. These massive black holes are taking in a large amount of material, which in turn emits radiation as they go into the black hole. This makes quasars so luminous.
19 quasars are being studied, which are some of the brightest quasars found. With the study, it has been shown that all 19 quasars have halos on them. Previously it was thought that only some of the quasars have them. The halos are gases known as the intergalactic medium.
"It is too early to say if this is due to our new observational technique or if there is something peculiar about the quasars in our sample," lead author Elena Borisova said. She is one of the researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) is Zurich, Switzerland. She said that with the study it could be the beginning of a new age of discoveries.
Another discovery that might change things is that the gases have a temperature of 10,000 degrees Celsius, which is relatively cool for it, as the official European Southern Observatory site notes. The temperature is far cooler than the expected millions of degrees for such quasars.
The researchers are careful about the discovery as it is still unclear if all the quasars have halos or if they have been observed because of new technology. MUSE has much potential for Astronomy, and its use on distant quasars show that they have giant glowing halos. Also recently NASA has celebrated 10 years of observing the Sun.
