AS102 Study Guide - Final Guide: Seyfert Galaxy, Accretion Disk, Active Galactic Nucleus
Document Summary
Unlike any other object in the universe, quasars emit light across a very large part of the spectrum, pretty much equally from the infrared through to gamma rays. (most stars and other galaxies emit primarily visible light. ) Clearly, the source of such light must be matter with a wide range of temperatures. As often happens in science we investigate something small or far away through comparative methodologies. In order to study quasars, which are so far away, it has been instructive to study closer quasar-like objects, Seyfert galaxies (mentioned above) that also have active galactic nuclei which look much like quasars (although they are less powerful and hence less luminous). The only mechanism that seems to be able to generate so much light energy from active galactic nuclei and quasars is from matter falling into extremely massive black holes. Pictured here is an artist"s conception of an accretion disk (a huge disk of matter) surrounding a black hole.
