3C273 Recent discoveries have lead to new insight into how quasars might work. Learning more about 3c273 and other quasars helps to discover more about the history, large-scale structure, and future of our universe. Our own group of galaxies is about ten billion years old. Some galaxies are called active galaxies, as they are further away and their nuclei emit far more radiation than galaxies like our own.
Quasars are the most energetic and distant of all three objects.
It is believed that the nucleus of a quasar is so bright that it hides the relatively dim surrounding galaxy. The activity in the nuclei of galaxies and active galaxies has similar characteristics to the activity taking place in quasars, and since it is easier to observe, it helps verify theories that explain how quasars work. A clue is provided by the jet of 3C273, a radio, optical and X-ray spike that extends over a hundred thousand light years into space. This pattern points to a rotating, supermassive object. According to theory, matter from the surrounding galaxy orbits this object in what is called an accretion disk.