Artist’s conception of the central portion of the galaxy that hosts the quasar SDSS J135246.37+423923.5 viewed at infrared wavelengths

The image shows the same artist’s view at infrared wavelengths, as seen by the Gemini GNIRS detector. The thick outflow is transparent at infrared wavelengths, giving us a clear line of sight to the quasar. The infrared spectrum yields the quasar redshift, and from that reference frame, we measured the record-breaking outflow velocity.