ar.How big are quasars compared to galaxies? Well, the region of intense visible emission is quite small compared to the rest of the galaxy that it is imbedded in. The visible emission only occurs very near the center of the galaxy. On the other hand, huge regions of radio emission, produced by the quasar, can stretch out to large distances outside the galaxy.Why do some quasars give off radio waves? The electrons near the center of the quasar can be accelerated to speeds near the speed of light. In the presence a magnetic field (which is present in these same regions), the electrons move along helical paths (paths that look like a stretched out slinky). As a result, they emit radio waves (it's called synchrotron radiation, since these waves are observed on Earth when physicists send high energy electrons around in circles using magnetic fields, in particle accelerators call synchrotrons). How long do quasars last? It appears galaxies may only act, as quasars during the early stages of their lives, but it would still be for times of billions of years. How long does it take for a quasar to form? Nobody really knows, since we don't exactly know how they form. However, it can't take much longer than something like a billion years.Can anything develop from quasars after they die? Probably, the only thing that would be left is the Suppressive black hole. In other words, the gas near it would have been used up and so the quasar shuts off. But the remaining stars in the galaxy, as a whole would, of course, still be there.Why are quasars so interesting to study? They are only seen far away. Since the light from quasars were emitted billions of years ago and we are just seeing them today we realize that they are all very old. There are no nearby quasars, so there are no young quasars; quasars are not made during our era of the universe, only during an ancient era. This also implies the universe was a different place in the past. It al...
