In 1963 Maarten Schmidt proved that it wasnt a star
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Quasars
Credit: AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives, Clayton Collection.
The discovery of Quasars in 1963 provided a final piece of evidence that undermined the Steady State theory of the universe, and supported the Big Bang. Maarten Schmidt, a Caltech astronomer working at Mt. Palomar Observatory, was credited with discovering the most distant object observed to date—so bright that it was mistaken for a star; but it was billion light years away. Because of the Doppler shift, the characteristic lines with which we identify stars were not at the expected wavelengths.
Schmidt’s discovery capped an exciting period in which the distance scale of the universe was expanded nearly tenfold, thanks to the contributions of Walter Baade, Alan Sandage, the new science of radio astronomy, and the magnificent telescopes of Mount Palomar.
Not all radio sources can be seen in visible light. Many are thought to be distant galaxies. The Sun emits radio waves that are easily detected because it is so close to us, but most stars are not bright radio sources. In 1963 Maarten Schmidt was studying radio Source 3C 273. It was unusual because the radio signals appeared to be coming from a star. At first the spectrum of the star was puzzling. Schmidt could not figure out what elements produced the bight spectral lines. Then he realized that the unfamiliar lines were simply the bright emission lines from hydrogen gas that had been shifted to different wavelengths. According to Hubble’s Law, an object with that red shift must be located billions of light-years away. It must be brighter than a million galaxies to appear as bright as a star at that great distance.
Credit: AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives, Clayton Collection.
The discovery of Quasars in 1963 provided a final piece of evidence that undermined the Steady State theory of the universe, and supported the Big Bang. Maarten Schmidt, a Caltech astronomer working at Mt. Palomar Observatory, was credited with discovering the most distant object observed to date—so bright that it was mistaken for a star; but it was billion light years away. Because of the Doppler shift, the characteristic lines with which we identify stars were not at the expected wavelengths.
Schmidt’s discovery capped an exciting period in which the distance scale of the universe was expanded nearly tenfold, thanks to the contributions of Walter Baade, Alan Sandage, the new science of radio astronomy, and the magnificent telescopes of Mount Palomar.
Not all radio sources can be seen in visible light. Many are thought to be distant galaxies. The Sun emits radio waves that are easily detected because it is so close to us, but most stars are not bright radio sources. In 1963 Maarten Schmidt was studying radio Source 3C 273. It was unusual because the radio signals appeared to be coming from a star. At first the spectrum of the star was puzzling. Schmidt could not figure out what elements produced the bight spectral lines. Then he realized that the unfamiliar lines were simply the bright emission lines from hydrogen gas that had been shifted to different wavelengths. According to Hubble’s Law, an object with that red shift must be located billions of light-years away. It must be brighter than a million galaxies to appear as bright as a star at that great distance.
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