Quasars
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Quasars
History and Discovery
Because quasars are at such great distances from the Earth, it is impossible to see them with the naked eye. The best way to detect these quasi-stellar radio sources are with radio telescopes. Karl Guthe Jansky, a telephone engineer at Bell Labs in the early 30's, was given the responsibility to identify radio interference when telephone signals were sent over short wave radio. He was able to identify all the sources of radio interference except for one. Jansky was able to determine that the source of radio interference was coming from the center of the Milky Way from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. He had discovered cosmic radio waves from the Milky Way galaxy.
Grote Reber, a ham radio operator in Wheaton Ill., was interested in the discoveries made by Jansky. Reber constructed the first radio telescope in his back yard. Some even give the radio operator the honor of being the father a radio astronomy...