PBS Space Time - S2017E04: Why Quasars are so Awesome
When Quasars were first discovered the amount of light pouring out of such a tiny dot in space seemed impossible. A hysterical flurry of hypothesizing followed: swarms of neutron stars, alien civilizations harnessing their entire galaxy’s power, bright, fast-moving objects being ejected by our own galaxy’s core. But by the 1980’s we were converging on the most awesome explanation. It goes a little like this: Take a black hole of millions to billions times the mass of the sun. Where from? It turns out every decent-sized galaxy has one at its core. Now drive gas into the galactic core. One way this can happen is when galaxies merge and grow. That gas descends into the waiting black hole’s gravitational well and gains incredible speed on the way. It is swept up in a raging whirlpool around the black hole that we call an accretion disk, where its energy of motion is turned into heat. The heat-glow of the accretion disk is so bright that we can see quasars to the ends of the universe.
Cast: Matthew O’Dowd
All Episodes - Season 2017
01How to See Black Holes + Kugelblitz Challenge AnswerJan 04, 201702The EM Drive: Fact or Fantasy?Jan 17, 201703The Phantom SingularityJan 19, 201704Why Quasars are so AwesomeJan 25, 201705The Geometry of CausalityFeb 02, 201706Telescopes of TomorrowFeb 15, 201707The Eye of Sauron Reveals a Forming Solar System!Feb 22, 201708The Treasures of Trappist-1Mar 01, 201709The Race to a Habitable Exoplanet - Time Warp ChallengeMar 08, 201710Time Crystals!Mar 15, 201711Superluminal Time Travel + Time Warp Challenge AnswerMar 22, 201712How Time Becomes Space Inside a Black HoleMar 29, 201713Telescopes on the MoonApr 05, 201714The Oh My God ParticleApr 19, 201715Are You a Boltzmann Brain?Apr 26, 201716Are We Living in an Ancestor Simulation?May 03, 201717The Great American EclipseMay 10, 201718Martian EvolutionMay 17, 201719The Fate of the First StarsMay 31, 201720Supervoids vs Colliding Universes!Jun 07, 201721Anti-Matter and Quantum RelativityJun 21, 201722The First Quantum Field TheoryJun 28, 201723Feynman's Infinite Quantum PathsJul 07, 201724Solving the Impossible in Quantum Field TheoryJul 12, 201725The Real Star WarsJul 19, 201726The Secrets of Feynman DiagramsJul 26, 201727Dark FlowAug 02, 201728The One-Electron UniverseAug 10, 201729Extraterrestrial SuperstormsAug 16, 201730First Detection of LifeAug 24, 201731White HolesAug 30, 201732Neutron Stars Collide in New LIGO Signal?Sep 13, 201733The Future of Space TelescopeSep 20, 201734Are the Fundamental Constants Changing?Sep 28, 201735When Quasars Collide STJCOct 04, 201736Absolute ColdOct 11, 201737The Nature of NothingOct 19, 201738The Missing Mass MysteryOct 25, 201739The Vacuum CatastropheNov 03, 201740Zero-Point Energy DemystifiedNov 08, 201741Suicide Space RobotsNov 22, 201742Citizen Science + Zero-Point Challenge AnswerNov 29, 201743Understanding the Uncertainty Principle with Quantum Fourier SeriesDec 06, 201744The Origin of Our First Interstellar VisitorDec 13, 201745Extinction by Gamma-Ray BurstDec 20, 2017 PBS Space Time S2017E04 Synopsis
Stream PBS Space Time "Why Quasars are so Awesome" in HD quality on Goojara. Originally aired on 2017-01-25, this episode is part of Season 2017 of PBS Space Time. Featuring performances from Matthew O’Dowd among the cast. With a runtime of 12m, the episode keeps you engaged throughout. As part of this Documentary and Talk series, the episode continues to build on the show's compelling narrative. When Quasars were first discovered the amount of light pouring out of such a tiny dot in space seemed impossible. A hysterical flurry of hypothesizing followed: swarms of neutron stars, alien civilizations harnessing their entire galaxy’s power, brig...
