Adopey.137
net.space
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!duke!unc!dopey.smb
Mon Mar  8 18:13:56 1982
Superluminal quasars
Another question comes back to me:  if quasars are large (on the order
of lightmonths or larger -- not unreasonable if they're some sort of
proto-galaxy, in which case they'd be far larger) -- how can they change
luminosity as quickly as has been reported?  Some sort of time contraction
by the time the light reaches us?

Also, what are the limitations on Very Long Baseline Interferometry?
The case I cited earlier, of apparent superluminal expansion of several
quasars, was detected by VLBI, which means it can be used to determine
at least relative measurements of objects at vast distances.  But it can't
be used to determine absolute distances, or we wouldn't be wondering so much
about the value of the Hubble constant.  Anyone have any details they can
supply?

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