Later in his career Burbidge refused to accept the Big Bang theory which describes the start of the universe. Quasars are very bright objects with a very high redshift. The Big Bang theorists say that they come from places extremely far away in the universe. But Burbidge thought that quasars come from nearby galaxies, travelling near the speed of light, which explains their redshift. He thought they produced new matter as old matter was destroyed by reactions.