Largest known structure.

[Blue Ghost]

This is an interesting link to Space.com. An article describes a cluster of networked galactic core to form what's called large quasar group.

linky; http://www.space.com/19220-universe-largest-structure-discovered.html

If I understand correctly, Quasars are distant relics forming not long after "the big bang", and therefore don't actually exist anymore, but we do get their imagery by looking at deep portions of the universe.

As such, I would think this think that this quasar group doesn't exist anymore, but is preserved by the fact that the light created by it is still travelling through space.

Be that as it may, and this probably sounds ludicrous given Traveller's starship physics, but does anyone think there might be an adventure in here somewhere?

 

[HiverLord]

"I" can't think of anything offhand, but I'm no physicist.
I'd have a hard time thinking of anything relevant to Traveller, as the object described is 4 Billion light years across, or so...

Regardless, it's an impressive find.

 

[flykiller]

does anyone think there might be an adventure in here somewhere?

use the energy at the black hole sources of the quasars to pull in a jump from any distance, and then the energy released by the quasars to propel a jump to any distance.

complication 1: this may be a jump not only of distance but into the distant past/future as well.

complication 2: if time is an issue then the quasars may be a jump nexus for millions of civilizations over billions of years. think "restaurant at the end of the universe". you may not want to share your origin's time/space coordinate.

complication 3: if navigational accuracies are an issue then you may have other civilizations, and any problems they may have, accidentally winding up in the third imperium's time/space coordinate.

etc.

 

[HG_B]

If I understand correctly, Quasars are distant relics forming not long after "the big bang", and therefore don't actually exist anymore,

If they are powered by huge black holes (which are formed from VERY old collapsed stars) then they shouldn't be from the formation period as there were no stars old enough to have formed huge black holes...

 

[Fritz_Brown]

If I understand correctly

I don't think anyone "understands" quasars at this point. There's a lot of firmly held opinions, which have changed over the years, but there's too many variables we just don't know at this point. So, if you're feeling brave, make them work however you want for an adventure.

(Oh, and it's interesting information in the article. Thank you for posting.)

 

[G. Kashkanun Anderson]

If I understand correctly, Quasars are distant relics forming not long after "the big bang", and therefore don't actually exist anymore...

That's what I thought too, except that there is a 'former' quasar (IC 2497) just 760 million light years away that apparently shut down a mere 70,000 years ago (plus the 760my it took for the light announcing that to reach us). That's still pretty far back, but hardly to the beginning of the universe. The nearest active quasar (3C 273) is 2.4 billion light years away, or a little less than twenty percent further back into the history of the universe than we are today.

That's not to say that most quasars aren't a damn sight further away than that (and thus from pretty early in the history of the universe). But apparently not all of them are.

 

[Blue Ghost]

That's what I thought too, except that there is a 'former' quasar (IC 2497) just 760 million light years away that apparently shut down a mere 70,000 years ago (plus the 760my it took for the light announcing that to reach us). That's still pretty far back, but hardly to the beginning of the universe. The nearest active quasar (3C 273) is 2.4 billion light years away, or a little less than twenty percent further back into the history of the universe than we are today.

That's not to say that most quasars aren't a damn sight further away than that (and thus from pretty early in the history of the universe). But apparently not all of them are.

Very interesting. Then it might make for an interesting ATU of some kind. This would make the power of a quasar is staggering. Creating an adventure around one of these things might be interesting, if problematic.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Here's a pic;