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Quasar Outflow (Illustration)

Artist’s concept of an active galaxy with a brilliant quasar against the black background of space.

This is an artist's concept of a galaxy with a brilliant quasar at its center. A quasar is a very bright, distant and active supermassive black hole that is millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun. Among the brightest objects in the universe, a quasar’s light outshines that of all the stars in its host galaxy combined. Quasars feed on infalling matter and unleash torrents of winds and radiation, shaping the galaxies in which they reside. Using the unique capabilities of Webb, scientists will study six of the most distant and luminous quasars in the universe.

  • Release Date
    June 23, 2021
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Will Use Quasars to Unlock the Secrets of the Early Universe
  • Credit
    Artwork: NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

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Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Artwork Credit

NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)