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quasar

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qua⋅sar

[kwey-zahr, -zer, -sahr, -ser]
–noun Astronomy.
one of over a thousand known extragalactic objects, starlike in appearance and having spectra with characteristically large redshifts, that are thought to be the most distant and most luminous objects in the universe.


Origin:
1960–65; quas(i-stell)ar, in quasi-stellar radio source, the first type of quasar discovered
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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qua·sar   (kwā'zär', -sär', -zər, -sər)   
n.  An extremely distant, and thus old, celestial object whose power output is several thousand times that of our entire galaxy.

[quas(i-stellar) + (st)ar.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

quasar 
1964, from "quas(i-stell)ar radio source" (1963).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Abbreviations & Acronyms
quasar
quasi-stellar object
The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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