Astronomers have now discovered the first ever quadruple quasar that is apparenlty one of the most massive structures found from the farthest reaches of the universe.

This unique quasar formation is enshrouded within a giant nebula made from cool, dense gases. Scientists consider this discovery a one in a ten million chance that suggests the development of newer models of quasar systems and how they evolve into the universe's most colossal structures ever to be detected.

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These four quasars are surrounded by a giant nebula that consists of cool hydrogen gas that also emits light since it is irradiated by the intense energy of the glow of quasars. The nebula also measures one million light years across.

Another surprising discovery for astronomers is that the surrounding nebula and the quartet of quasars are all located in a rare region in the universe that contains a huge amount of matter.

According to J. Xavier Prochaska from the University of California, Santa Cruz, the amount of galaxies in this region is 700 times more galaxies than what is usually expected at this extremely distant region in the universe. 

There are probably millions of galaxies in the universe, however this system is similar to galaxy clusters that astronomers often observe. However, the light that astronomers have detected are originating from a cosmic region that took 10 billion years to travel towards Earth which means that these images from this region is from 10 billion years ago, some 4 billion years after the Big Bang.

Scientists now believe this is a prime example of an ancestor of a modern day galaxy cluster or proto cluster derived from its progenitor quadruple quasar nebula hybrid.

Still, astronomers consider this as a great, once in a lifetime opportunity considering all these galactic anomalies together.

The quasars are detected by the 10 meter Keck I Telescope located at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

This study is published in the journal, Science. 

Tagsquasar quartet, university of california santa cruz, nebula, Universe