QUASARS: BRIGHTER THAN A BILLION STARS
One can see long light clouds in the night sky when the atmosphere is clear. This is our galaxy, the Milky Way. These clouds of light are not clouds. Instead, they are uncountable collections of stars that appear to be joined because they are far away from us. If you view them through a telescope, you will see them as separate stars. The Sun, which is 12,00,000 times the size of the Earth, appears to be very big, but many of the stars in our galaxy are even bigger than the Sun.
Uncountable galaxy-like clusters of this sort and other such unique astronomical phenomena are spread across the vast expanse of the universe. For example, astounding discoveries in astronomy are called ‘quasars.’
A quasar is an astronomical object of very high luminosity found in the centre of some galaxies. The brightest quasars can outshine all the stars in the galaxies in which they reside. This makes them visible even at distances of billions of light-years. Quasars are among the most distant and luminous known objects. The radiant energy of quasars is enormous. Like the Milky Way, quasars have thousands of times greater luminosities than a galaxy. An entire galaxy in which there could be around 100 billion stars, many of which may be much bigger than our Sun, emits tremendous energy in light and heat, but a single quasar can emit even more energy than that!
This Earth, filled with such blessings, manifests God’s beauty, and the fiery stars in space manifest God’s majesty. If the Earth’s life-support system is a sign of Paradise, then the blazing balls of fire in the form of stars in the sky remind one of Hell. If a person reflects on these signs on the Earth and in the skies, he can be filled with remembrance of God. The Quran points to this in these words:
“There are signs in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day for people of understanding; who remember God while standing, sitting and [lying] on their sides, and who ponder over the creation of the heavens and the earth.” (3:190-191)
