quasar

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an extremely luminous active galactic nucleus powered by matter falling into a supermassive black hole

   The distant quasar outshone the ordinary stars in its host galaxy.

A shortening and blend from quasi-stellar radio source, coined as quasar in 1964 by astrophysicist Hong-Yee Chiu. The first known examples looked starlike in photographs despite their enormous distance and energy output.

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