If quasars are supermassive black holes at the center of young galaxies, as many scientists seem to be saying, what happened to them? How could they disappear?
2007-10-30 08:52:27 · 5 answers · asked by Yaakov 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
They sure seem to have disappeared. Quasars appear to exist only at the farthest reaches of the visible universe. Their light has traveled billions of light years to reach us. If they didn't disappear, then shouldn't see them much closer?
2007-10-30 09:06:30 · update #1
It's logic. If quasars are only seen at the centers of young galaxies, something must happen to them as the galaxies age. If they are billions of ly's away, then we are actually seeing them as they existed billions of years ago. We don't see them closer, because we are seeing those galaxies at a more advanced age.
2007-10-30 09:46:13 · update #2
See the answers to my previous question about quasars.
2007-10-30 09:47:33 · update #3
Quasars are super massive black holes at the center of young galaxies that are devouring gas and dust and then shooting off large amounts of radiation into space. That's why we can see a quasar. Once, the super massive black hole has sucked up the remaining surrounding gas, it is no longer a quasar, but instead a super massive black hole at the center of a galaxy. Our own galaxy would have a quasar if the super massive black hole at the center was still consuming large amounts of gas and dust, but it's not. Instead, there's a radius of empty space between the black hole and the galaxy that surrounds it.
The reason why we only see quasars in young galaxies is because this is how young galaxies start. They start with a black hole that has condensed in the center of a large gas cloud and then that black hole consumes it's immediate surrounding gas, which causes the large gamma ray bursts and thus we call them quasars. This sparks off star formation in the surrounding gas, which eventually forms into galaxies as we know of today. The black hole becomes super massive and eventually consumes all of it's mediate surrounding gas and then becomes relatively quiet and no longer a quasar. This is why older more developed galaxies don't have quasars at their centers.
2007-10-30 10:08:16 · answer #1 · answered by straightshooter 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The supermassive black hole doesn't disappear, but its emissions die down. Assuming the quasar is powered by the accretion disk around the black hole, it would go quiet after the region around the black hole had been cleared of gas and dust.
2007-10-30 10:05:59 · answer #2 · answered by injanier 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
There's one down the road from me I have an excellent trigger finger lol gotta love a joke!
2016-06-25 02:55:14 · answer #3 · answered by Charlie Vanaswegen 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure where you got the notion that quasars have disappeared. Can you cite a reference for that?
2007-10-30 09:38:33 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They did not disappear,scientists are discovering more every day.
2007-10-30 09:02:45 · answer #5 · answered by Mark K 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋