News Astronomy

A distant quasar may be zapping all galaxies around itself

Star formation has ceased within 16 million light-years of the quasar

An image of a ring of fire in outer space with a black orb in the center, shown on a diagonal from the side.

Gas gets hot and shines profusely as it whirls around the supermassive black hole at a galaxy’s center, creating a quasar (illustrated).

M. Kornmesser/ESO

By Ken Croswell

One of the farthest known quasars seems to have shut down the creation of new stars in all the galaxies within its vicinity.

A quasar is a powerful source of light, created by torrid gas orbiting a gargantuan black hole at the center of a galaxy.