An international team of scientists led by astronomers at Peking University (China) and the University of Arizona (USA) found on the edge of the observable universe is the brightest quasar, which is powered by a massive and ancient black hole.
The opening of this facility , known as SDSS J0100 + 2802, marks an important step in understanding how it is formed quasars, the most powerful and brightest objects in the universe.
Quasars were first discovered in 1963 and are the brightest objects outside our Milky Way galaxy. They emit huge amounts of energy space, while the supermassive black hole at their center draws material from their environment.
With the new generation of digital tools, astronomers were able to detect more than 200 thousand quasars, whose age starts at 0 7 billion years after the Big Bang.
It is known that they originated in the early days, after only 875 million years after the Big Bang, which occurred 13.7 billion years ago.
Quasar SDSS J0100 + 2802 with a central black hole mass of 12 billion suns and luminosity of 420 billion suns is located about 12.8 billion light-years from Earth. The new quasar 7 times brighter than the most distant of the known quasars (located at a distance of 13 billion light-years).
“In comparison, our own Milky Way harbors a black hole mass of only 4 million solar masses – says Fan. – A hole in this quasar more 3000 times heavier “.
Opening ultra SDSS J0100 + 2802 put a spoke in the wheels of growth theory of black holes and the development of stars and galaxies in the early universe. For his age, this black hole is incredibly massive, because in order to achieve such size it had to absorb large amounts of the substance of the interstellar medium and merge with other large black holes. And this wealth of material in the early universe was not yet.
“How could such a bright quasar and so massive black hole formed so early in the history of the universe, shortly after came the first stars and galaxies? – Asks the author research professor of astronomy Syaohuey Fan (Xiaohui Fan). – And what is the relationship between this monstrous black hole and its environment, including its galaxy? This Ultrabright quasar and its supermassive black hole can become a unique laboratory for studying the formation of galaxies around the most massive black holes in the early universe “.
Researchers have suggested that the formation of the quasar can be dated to the time close to the end of the most important event – the epoch of reionization. It has become a cosmic dawn, marking the end of the dark ages, filling the sky the stars and turn the universe into the world, that we see today.
Scientists have discovered quasar China in 2013 using the 2.4-meter telescope in Lijiang, located in China’s Yunnan province. Ultrabright nature of quasar allowed Chinese astronomers to measure the temperature, ionization state, and the metal content of the intergalactic medium in the era of reionization.
After the initial discovery at a bright object turned their attention to two telescopes in southern Arizona: 8.4-meter Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in the Mount Graham Observatory and the 6.5-meter telescope multimirrors (MMT) at Mount Hopkins.
They have helped scientists to measure the distance and mass of the black hole. Then the 6.5-meter Magellan Telescope (GMT) in the Chilean Las Campanas Observatory and the 8.2-meter telescope Gemini North on Mauna Kea in Hawaii confirmed the results.
The Chinese astronomers compared the unique quasar with a shining beacon in the distant universe, whose light will help to learn more about the beginning of time.
“This is a great achievement for the LBT, – said Fan, who chairs the Scientific Advisory Division Large Binocular Telescope and discovered the previous record holders of the early universe. – Highly sensitive optical and infrared spectrographs of the telescope allow us to estimate the size of quasars and mass of the black hole at the center of the quasar. We used two tools series: one for visible light spectroscopy, and the other for near infrared shooting, but soon is expected to present a couple of LBT Observatory tools that can be used at the same time, doubling the number of observations carried out “.
However, the study of the nature of this entertaining quasar is not over yet. To shed light on the physical processes that led to the formation of the earliest supermassive black holes, the research team plans to hold a series of observations with the help of several international telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope and cosmic X-ray Observatory Chandra.
The scientific article groups Fania was published in Nature.
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