The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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This figure shows two images of quasars from a sample of 20 relatively nearby quasars examined by a team of European astronomers using two of the most powerful astronomical facilities available, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro Paranal.
The quasar on the left, HE0450-2958 (distance to its centre, about 5000 million light-years) does not have a massive 'host' galaxy. The quasar HE1239-2426 on the right (1500 million light-years away), has a normal 'host' galaxy which displays large spiral arms. Although HE1239-2426 is much closer than HE0450-2958, the host galaxy of the latter would still be clearly visible if it was as bright as the one of HE1239-2426.
Also seen in the image to the left (above the quasar) is a strongly disturbed galaxy, showing all the signs of a recent collision. The VLT observations show it to be forming stars at a frantic rate. Below the quasar a foreground star is seen.
The images were taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and have been scaled to exhibit the same linear scale.