Tim Parker, age 15, of Champaign, I11., for his question.

HOW DOES A QUASAR GENERATE SO MUCH POWER?

A quasar is a galaxy that gives off enormous amounts of power from its central area. Quasars radiate this energy in the form of light and radio waves. A quasar releases about 100,000 billion times    J as much energy as does the sun.

Astronomers do not know how a quasar generates so much power. Some believe the energy results from collisions between fast moving stars in the central part of a quasar. Others suggest that the exploding stars called supernovae in the central area produce the intense power.

The word quasar is a shortened form of the term "quasi stellar radio source."

Quasars were first observed in 1960 by a group of astronomers working at Palomar Observatory near San Diego, Calif. By the late 1970s, scientists had discovered about 500 quasars.

Quasars are the most distant objects presently in the universe that can be seen by human beings.