Quasars
- Begin by watching Galaxies - Part 2 from Crash Course. This video provides an excellent summary of all the topics we will be learning about in this unit. It may even be worth coming back to watch this video again after each lesson for review.
- Explore 27.1 Quasars to learn about the discovery of the very bright, very distant objects that have come to be known as “quasars.”
- The energy required to power a quasar can only come from a supermassive black hole - a black hole that contains the mass of millions of stars. Watch this brief video that connects the terminology of black holes with the terminology of quasars and “active galactic nuclei.”
- Read 27.2 Supermassive Black Holes: What Quasars Really Are to learn about the role of supermassive black holes in powering quasars and the formation of accretion disks.
- Review 27.3 Quasars as Probes of Evolution in the Universe to understand how quasars and galaxies interact, their implications for galaxy formation, and the triggers for quasar activity.
- A supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy can alter the environment sufficiently to trigger or turn off star formation for the galaxy as a whole. Watch this brief explanation of The impact of a supermassive black hole on a galaxy.
Copyright 2024 Andrew VandenHeuvel