Light from an extremely powerful flux from a distant quasar took more than ten billion years to reach Earth.
The rays, the most distant sources of radio emissions ever known, come from the recently discovered quasar that existed when the universe was only 780 million years old. Quasars are extremely bright objects located at the center of several galaxies. They get their energy from supermassive black holes. Black holes absorb the surrounding gas, releasing energy. This energy source forms a stream of light rays in the form of radio wavelengths.
The newly found quasars are named P172 + 18. The ray stream projects matter at speeds close to the speed of sound. Given the distance from the quasar, astronomers observe the object when it existed in the early days of the universe. This could help researchers better understand the evolution of galaxies and black holes.
It is the first quasar discovered in such an ancient ray stream. P172 + 18 is a radio standard with ultraviolet current in the form of radio wavelengths. Only about 10% of quasars belong to this group. The supermassive black hole that feeds the P172 + 18 is 300 million times larger than the Sun, according to research results published March 8 in the Astrophysical Journal. Black holes eat matter very quickly, increasing in mass at the highest rate, according to Chiara Mazzucchelli, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory.
Supermassive black holes are more likely to grow rapidly and radio rays from quasars are linked. The jet itself affects the gas around the black hole, increasing the amount of gas that falls into the hole. It could help astronomers learn how some first universe black holes rapidly increased in size.
Numerous telescopes and observatories, including the Magellan Telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, the Very Large Telescope at the Southern European Observatory, the Very Large Array system at the National Radio Astronomical Observatory in New Mexico, and the Telescope Keck in Hawaii both contributed to the Discovery. Astronomers can use quasars to study objects closer to Earth because they act as beacons.
