Transition from red to blue quasars

Artist’s impression of the transition from red to blue quasars. Red and blue quasars are related within an evolutionary sequence that connects dust-obscured star formation with quasar activity through gas inflow via merging galaxies and outflows from the quasar. With this model the rare red quasar population represents a brief transitional phase between the starburst and the blue quasar phase during which winds and/or jets drive away the obscuring dust, revealing an unobscured blue quasar, and ultimately shutting down the star formation to form a dormant early-type galaxy.