The distance to the quasar is so great (about 10 billion light - years) that the emitted light is «stretched» by the expansion of the universe from
an invisible ultraviolet wavelength to a visible shade of violet by the time it reaches the 10 - meter Keck I telescope and the LRIS (Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) used for this discovery.
Earth receives energy that travels from the sun in a variety of
wavelengths, some of which we see as sunlight and others that are
invisible to the naked eye, such as shorter -
wavelength ultraviolet radiation and longer -
wavelength infrared radiation.