QUESTION:
Please define the term quasar.

ANSWER from Joe Pesce on March 20, 1996:
Quasars are a particular type of astronomical object.  They appear
starlike, but, in fact, are objects in extragalactic space,
i.e. outside of our Galaxy, and they are very far away. Quasars
are the most distant and luminous objects in the visible universe.

Basically, quasars are galaxies, perhaps even like our's, the Milky Way
(but at the moment we are still trying to learn if this is true).
In the cores of these objects, there is something which produces
a tremendous amount of energy, much more energy than is produced
by all of the stars in a typical galaxy.  It is not entirely clear
what the source of this tremendous energy is, but most likely, it is a very
big black hole.