After World War II and the success of nuclear physics,
the frontiers of science turned
to the very small and the vastness of outer space.
With the building of larger and new kinds of telescopes,
such as radio telescopes,
astronomers were poised to take a new look
into the universe and see what was out there.
In the mid-'50s, radio astronomers were puzzling
over an ever-growing list of mysterious radio sources
in deep space.
When looked at by light telescopes,
these phenomena--
called quasistellar radio sources, or quasars--
showed up as starlike objects,
point sources unlike the associated radio emissions
that were quite broadly spread out.
When viewed spectroscopically, quasars were just as mysterious.
In 1963, American astronomer Maarten Schmidt determined
the spectral oddness was, in fact, the product
of an extreme redshift,
galaxies moving away from us at an incredible rate.
Quasars were nothing more than the highly active core
of a developing galaxy.
It was speculated in the latter part
of the 20th century that these galaxy cores
were in the early stage of development,
intense areas of massive explosion
associated with a black hole,
an area of supergravitational pull.
Interestingly, there are no nearby quasars,
further suggesting that they are from a more ancient time
in the creation of the universe.