The extremely luminous quasars are only seen at very large distances from the Mi
ID: 3278428 • Letter: T
Question
The extremely luminous quasars are only seen at very large distances from the Milky Way. In our local region of the universe, we observe some galaxies with active galactic nuclei, and the rest have almost no radiation being emitted from their nucleus. Explain why this is the case.
a. When we observe objects that are at very great distances, we are also looking far back in time. The distance where most quasars are found, is also the time in the universe’s history when the galaxies were forming through mergers of galactic fragments. Quasars are super massive black holes, at the centers of galaxies, which are accreting matter. As the matter spirals toward the black hole it gives off tremendous amounts of luminosity. When this matter is all devoured by the black hole, the quasar effect diminishes. During galaxy formation, mergers of galaxies can cause large amounts of matter to fall into the black hole. This is why the quasars are observed at very large distances.Explanation / Answer
The correct answer is option (d)
When we observe objects that are at very great distances, we are also looking far back in time. The distance where most quasars are found, is also the time in the universe’s history when the galaxies were forming through mergers of galactic fragments. At this time there were very few processed elements in the universe. This lack of elements allowed stars to live longer than the stars we see today. It also allowed black holes from long ago, to grow to extremely high masses. When matter falls into these extremely high mass black holes it produces a large amount of luminosity. We do not see this high of a luminosity in galaxies in the local universe, because nearby galaxies have a large amount of processed elements and therefore their black holes are less massive.
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