Exam 27: Active Galaxies, Quasars, and Supermassive Black Holes

A friend of yours who is a science fiction fan hears you talk about the fact that astronomers now believe that the mechanism for the large energy output of quasars involves a supermassive black hole. He challenges you, saying something like "Oh come on, every science fiction fan knows that nothing, not even light, can escape from a black hole! How can a black hole be an energy source?" How would you respond to his objection?

If quasars often resemble little blue stars, what was it about them that so surprised astronomers when they were dis?covered?

For galaxies that have super-massive black holes at their centers, how do astronomers find that the mass of the host galaxy and the mass of the black hole are related?

What makes astronomers believe that the energy source in quasars is only a few light months across (the distance light travels in a few months)?

The astronomer who first solved the problem of the strange red-shifts seen in quasar spectra and thus helped us understand that the quasars must be distant objects was

How do astronomers now explain the fact that the energy emitting regions for quasars are so small?

A Congressman from Texas visits our National Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, and wants to be shown an object in the univer?se with the "biggest darn redshift you ever saw". What type of object should the astronomers show him?