The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has spotted rare “double quasars” in the distant universe, implying a catastrophic galactic collision in ancient times. Peering back 10 billion years into the universe’s history, astronomers found a pair of quasars that appear to be a single object. But with the crisp view provided by the HST, the pair…

Quasars are among the most extreme astrophysical objects in our universe. They contain supermassive black holes and lie at the centers of galaxies, where they quickly consume nearby materials and emit enormous amounts of energy. A small percentage of quasars also drive powerful radio jets, which can travel at nearly the speed of light. Now…