Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Quasar |
QuasarNoun1. A starlike object that may send out radio waves and other forms of energy; large red shifts imply enormous recession velocities. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Electrical Engineering | A star-like body near the limit of the presently observable universe which emits radio and visible light radiation. Source: European Union. (references) |
Geography | A compact source of light and other radiation which can look like a star but has some of the properties of galaxies, including a large red-shift. Some astronomers consider some or all of the red-shift of certain quasars to be the result of some other phenomenon besides the expansion of the universe. Source: European Union. (references) |
Physics | A faint blue, star-like object commonly considered to be extremely distant, probably an unusual nucleus of a galaxy. It has a tendency to flare. (references) |
| A specific type of quasi-stellar source. (references) | |
Space | Quasi-stellar object observed mainly in radio waves. Quasars are extragalactic objects believed to be the very distant centers of active galaxies. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A quasar (from quasi-stellar radio source) is an astronomical object that looks like a star in optical telescopes (i.e. it is a point source), but has a very high redshift. The general consensus is that this high redshift is cosmological, the result of Hubble's law and that their redshift indicates that they are typically very distant from Earth; we observe them as they were several billions of years ago.
Since we can see them despite their distance, they must emit more energy than dozens of normal galaxies. Some quasars display rapid changes in luminosity, which implies that they are small (an object cannot change faster than the time it takes light to travel from one end to the other). The highest redshift quasar currently known is 6.4 ([1]).
The first quasars were discovered with radio telescopes in the late 1950s; the first spectrum of a quasar, confirming its extragalactic nature, was obtained by Schmidt in 1963. Once they were identified it was possible to find them recorded in photographic plates dating back to the 19th century. Later it was found that not all (actually only 10% or so) quasars have strong radio emission (are `radio-loud'). The name `QSO' (quasi-stellar object) is sometimes given to the radio-quiet class. Other people talk about `radio-loud' and `radio-quiet quasars'.
Quasars appear to be a particular class of active galaxies, and a general consensus has emerged that in many cases it is simply the viewing angle that distinguishes them from other classes, such as (blazars and radio galaxies). The huge luminosity of quasars is believed to be a result of friction caused by gas and dust falling into the accretion disks of supermassive black holes, which can convert about half of the mass of an object into energy as compared to a few percent for nuclear fusion processes. This mechanism is also believed to explain why quasars were more common in the early universe, as this energy production ends when the supermassive black hole consumes all of the gas and dust near it. This means that it is likely that there are quiescent quasars in or near our local galactic neighborhood, which lack a supply of matter to feed into their central black holes to generate radiation.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Quasar."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
quasar | English | Quasi stellar radio source | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonym: QuasarSynonym: quasi-stellar radio source (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Quasar |
| Non-English Usage: "Quasar" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Dutch (quasar), German (quasar), Italian (quasar), Portuguese (quasar, quasi-stellar object(QSO), quasi-stellar radio source). |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | This Hubble telescope image [right] reveals a faint galaxy, the home of a quasar. The wealth ... Credit: NASA. |  | The Green (V band) image (left) shows the field around the quasar 3c 273 (courtesy Matthew ... Credit: NASA. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| "Quasar" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 93.02% of the time. "Quasar" is used about 43 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 93.02% | 40 | 54,274 |
| Noun (common) | 4.65% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (proper) | 2.33% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 43 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "quasar": radio-quasar. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "quasar"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | квазер. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 类星". (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | quasar (quasi-stellar radio source), kvasar (quasi-stellar object(QSO)). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | quasar (quasi-stellar radio source). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | kvasaari (quasi-stellar radio source). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | quasar (quasi-stellar object(QSO), quasi-stellar radio source). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | quasar (quasi-stellar radio source). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | κβάζαρ (quasi-stellar object(QSO)), οιονεί αστρική ραδιοπηγή (quasi-stellar radio source). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | kvazár. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | quasar (quasi-stellar radio source). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 準星 , クーロン力 (car horn, Chrysler, Clark, classic, classic car, classic life, classic races, classical, classicism, clerk, client, client server, climax, climber, climbing, climograph, cloud, collider, cook, cookie, cooking, cooking card, cooking school, Coulomb's force, coutouriere, couturier, crime story, crisis, criteria, crouching start, crown, cryoelectronics, cryogenics, cumin, cushion, cushion ball, Klaxon, Kuwait, large size, multi-purpose health facility, pitcher throwing to first base, quake, Quaker, quality, quality paper, quantity, quantize, quark, quarter, quarterback, quarterly, quartet, quartz, queen, queen size, Queen's English, Queensland, question, question mark, quick, quick motion, quick step, quick turn, quilter, quintet, quinto, quiz, quiz mania, quiz rally, quota, quotation mark, quote, Society of Friends, the Queen Mary). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | クエーサー , じゅ"せい (genuine, perfect, pure). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 준성. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | asarquay quasar (quasi-stellar object(QSO), quasi-stellar radio source). (various references) квазар. (various references) radioizvor, kvazar. (various references) quásar. (various references) yıldızsı gökcismi (quasi-stellar object), radyo dalgaları gönderen gökcismi (quasi-stellar object). (various references) квазар. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "quasar": quasars. (additional references) | |
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"Quasar" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Mudassar, Munasar, Qaiser, qasar, qaus, qausar, Qawar, qawasim, Qeysar, Qquasar, quaa, quadar, quaia, Qualao, quansa, quapaw, quasay, quase, Quaser, quasier, Quasim, quasir, Quassia, quatar, quatra, quavar, quazar, quazer, quesa, quesat, quesi, quiar, quitar, quizar, qusar. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-q-r-s-u" | |
-1 letter: aquas, auras. | |
-2 letters: aqua, aura, sura, ursa. | |
-3 letters: aas, ars, qua, ras, sau, suq. | |
-4 letters: aa, ar, as, us. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-q-r-s-u" | |
+1 letter: quasars. | |
+2 letters: aquarist, quadrans, quadrats, quartans. | |
+3 letters: aquarians, aquarists, aquariums, arabesque, jacquards, paraquats, paraquets, quadrants, quadrates, quatrains. | |
+4 letters: antiquarks, aquarelles, arabesques, marquisate, masquerade, quadrantes, quadratics, quandaries, rainsquall. | |
+5 letters: antiquaries, aquamarines, aquaplaners, aquarellist, aquatinters, earthquakes, marquessate, marquisates, masqueraded, masquerader, masquerades, quacksalver, quadrangles, quadratures, quarantines, quarterages, quartersawn, rainsqualls, reacquaints. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Abbreviations 11. Acronyms 12. Derivations | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
