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The Question
(Submitted April 07, 2004)
Was the Milky Way a Quasar in the distant past?
The Answer
The answer is that we aren't really sure. Our Galaxy does have a
supermassive black hole at the center, which is what astronomers believe
powers the enormous emission in quasars. However, whether or not it was
ever a quasar is still up for debate. It's entirely possible that it was,
but we don't have any proof one way or the other.
There's a brief article on this on the following page:
http://www.earthsky.com/shows/showsmore.php?t=20040122
We hope this helps!
Barbara and Stefan
For the "Ask a High Energy Astronomer" team
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