radio source

American  

noun

Astronomy.

1. a cosmic object or phenomenon, as a galaxy, pulsar, quasar, or the remnant of a supernova or of a galactic collision, that emits radio waves.

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radio source British  

noun

1. a celestial object, such as a supernova remnant or quasar, that is a source of radio waves

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Etymology

Origin of radio source

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

The term quasar is a concatenation of quasi-stellar radio source — so called because when they were first identified, astronomers like Hong-Yee Chiu, who coined the term, were completely baffled by these strange interstellar objects.

From Salon • Apr. 30, 2023

Hence the name “quasar,” an abbreviation that recognized their starlike properties, and stands for quasi-stellar radio source.

From Washington Post • Sep. 26, 2022

In the nuclear region of NGC 4993, our radio observations show a persistent and relatively bright radio source with flux 420 ± 30 μJy at 19 GHz.

From Nature • Oct. 15, 2017

Suppose we detect a powerful radio source with a radio telescope.

From Textbooks • Oct. 13, 2016

At some radio frequencies the Earth has become by far the brightest object, the most powerful radio source, in the solar system— brighter than Jupiter, brighter than the Sun.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan