Abell 2744-QSO1

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/abell-2744-qso1

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the object designation?Abell 2744-QSO1 (a quasar lensed by the Abell 2744 galaxy cluster)
2. Why does Abell 2744-QSO1 look brighter than its host galaxy?Matter falls into a supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center, heating up and emitting huge amounts of light that outshine the galaxy itself.
3. How does the galaxy cluster help us see Abell 2744-QSO1?The cluster’s gravity bends and magnifies the quasar’s light, creating four bright images that make the quasar easier to study.

Quasar (QSO): An extremely luminous active galactic nucleus powered by matter accreting onto a supermassive black hole.
Gravitational Lensing: The distortion and magnification of light from a distant source due to the gravity of an intervening massive object.
Redshift (z): A measure of how much the wavelength of light has been stretched due to the expansion of the universe, indicating distance and lookback time.
Dark Matter: A hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light but exerts gravitational influence, making up a significant portion of the universe's mass.