A quasar jet shines in brilliant colors in this kaleidoscope view taken by a series of space-based telescopes.

The Hubble, Chandra and Spitzer space telescopes put their eyes together to record this look a quasar known as 3C273, which is spewing a jet of high-energy material that spans some 100,000 light-years. The quasar is about three billion light-year from Earth towards the constellation Virgo.

First discovered in 1963, 3C273 – like all other quasars – is among the most brightest objects in the universe. Hubble visible light observations show up as green, while Spitzer’s infrared look appears in red. They overlap in the yellow regions.

The highest energy areas of the jet were recorded by Chandra’s X-ray camera, and can be seen in the far left as blue.

Astronomers used these multiple observations of 3C273 to study how light forms in different ways. Unlike the Sun, which generates most of its light by fusing hydrogen atoms together in a process called fusion, the quasar’s jet light stems from charged particles spiraling through a magnetic field.

The process is known as synchrotron radiation.

-- SPACE.com Staff

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Yale Univ