Artist’s Impression of a Pair of Quasars at ‘Cosmic Noon’
This artist's impression illustrates that astronomers using an array of ground- and space-based telescopes, including Gemini North on Hawai‘i, have uncovered a closely bound duo of energetic quasars — the hallmark of a pair of merging galaxies — seen when the Universe was only three billion years old. This discovery sheds light on the evolution of galaxies at “cosmic noon,” a period in the history of the Universe when galaxies underwent bursts of furious star formation. This merger also represents a system on the verge of becoming a giant elliptical galaxy.
Credit:International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Zamani, J. da Silva
About the Image
Id: | noirlab2309a |
Type: | Artwork |
Release date: | April 5, 2023, 8 a.m. |
Related releases: | noirlab2309 |
Size: | 4409 x 2481 px |
About the Object
Category: | Illustrations |
Image Formats
Large JPEG
2.9 MB
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17.9 MB
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163.8 KB