New galaxies found

Press, 29 August 1984, Page 25

New galaxies found

NZPA-Reuter New York

A team of astronomers has announced that it has discovered new galaxies at the edge of the Universe and their proximity to starlike quasars shows that the quasars are billions of trillions of miles away.

According to the National Science Foundation, which underwrote the project, the finding at such a great distance from the Earth confirms that quasars somehow give off more energy than all the stars in a galaxy combined. The discovery appears to lay to rest the nagging suspicion among some astronomers that quasars, which appear to be up to 60 billion trillion miles from Earth, may actually be much closer than they seem. Timothy Heckman and Eric Smith of the University of Maryland, with research scientists at the California Institute of Technology, the University of Washington and Leiden University in the Netherlands, have reported

finding the galaxies next to quasars. The distance estimates are based on measurements of the colours given off by auasars and other objects in le heavens. The redder the object, the farther away it is believed to be. Although quasars are the reddest objects observed in the Universe, some astronomers have suspected they may be much closer than their colours suggest because scientists cannot explain how objects so distant and so small can give off so much energy. Both the quasars and the galaxies are moving away from the centre of the Universe at similar speeds. Distant quasars are moving away from Earth at 90 per. cent of the speed of light, or more than 270,000 kilo-, metres a second.

The finding now leaves astronomers to explain how objects so far away can give off so much energy. Even small quasars emit more energy than many galaxies combined.