Abstract
Quasi-Stellar Radio Sources, or quasars, are a variety of galaxies with an active black hole in their nuclei which are accreting so much matter that they are brighter than anything in the
observable universe. In fact, they are at least 100 times as bright as typical galaxies and can be up to a trillion times as luminous as the Sun. The purpose of the study is to determine whether or not there are correlations between the properties of galaxies in the immediate environment of quasars. This was done by viewing raw images of quasars taken by the Hubble Space Telescope using a computer software called DS9. The distances of these nearby objects were recorded, along with their celestial coordinates, their apparent disturbances, and apparent galaxy morphologies. The general pattern identified in this study is that as the distance from the quasar increases, there are a greater amount of objects in each disturbance and morphology category. Possible explanations for these results include the potential of the quasar to outshine nearby objects and potential of the central black holes to cause the objects to merge with the quasar due to its immense gravitational attraction.
observable universe. In fact, they are at least 100 times as bright as typical galaxies and can be up to a trillion times as luminous as the Sun. The purpose of the study is to determine whether or not there are correlations between the properties of galaxies in the immediate environment of quasars. This was done by viewing raw images of quasars taken by the Hubble Space Telescope using a computer software called DS9. The distances of these nearby objects were recorded, along with their celestial coordinates, their apparent disturbances, and apparent galaxy morphologies. The general pattern identified in this study is that as the distance from the quasar increases, there are a greater amount of objects in each disturbance and morphology category. Possible explanations for these results include the potential of the quasar to outshine nearby objects and potential of the central black holes to cause the objects to merge with the quasar due to its immense gravitational attraction.