In a breakthrough discovery, scientists discovered the most distant Quasar Not yet known-this is the location of a severely supermassive black hole.
Astronomers led by researchers at the University of Arizona discovered that the quasar is about 13.03 billion light-years away from Earth.Quasars are one of the brightest objects in the universe. Quasars are luminous and active galactic nuclei driven by supermass energy. Black hole Actively feeding nearby materials.
When this material is inhaled, the quasar emits a super bright beam of electromagnetic radiation. Scientists suspect that these luminous supermassive objects may actually be the evolutionary stage of certain galaxies. In fact, scientists estimate that, on average, the black holes of this quasar absorb an average of 25 suns̵
The quasar named J0313-1806 dates back 670 million years ago Big explosion (The universe at this time is only 5% of its current age), making it the most distant and earliest quasar in history. This quasar also has a supermassive black hole with a mass equal to 1.6 billion that of the sun.
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Record-breaking quasar
Although this newly discovered quasar is very old and distant, the research team’s observations also indicate the existence of Superheated airflow From around the supermassive black hole of the Milky Way, this gas travels at one-fifth the speed of light, According to the statement.If it is found that the strong quasar-driven wind generated by the most distant quasar ever is not interesting enough, the team also found Very active star formation activity In galaxies that hold quasars.
The statement said that it is estimated that J0313-1806 will produce about 200 solar masses each year, and our Milky Way will produce one solar mass each year.
“This is a relatively high rate of star formation, similar to that observed in other quasars of similar age, and it tells us that the host galaxy grows very fast,” lead author Feige Wang (Hubble of the Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona) Researcher), said in the same statement.
Quasar Survey
Now, because of the close relationship between them, scientists believe that by studying quasars, they can learn more about how these objects are formed and the true behavior of supermassive black holes.
Although this quasar is only 20 million light-years away from Earth, which is later than the previous galaxy called the “most distant quasar,” the weight of the supermassive black hole of the new record holder is about twice that of its predecessor. This detail may change how scientists understand the relationship between these supermassive, superbright cosmic objects.
Wang said: “This is the earliest evidence of how a supermassive black hole affects the host galaxy around it.” “By observing a galaxy far away, we know that this must happen, but we have never seen it so early in the universe. Happen in.”
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How do you make a supermassive black hole
Quasars like J0313-1806 have accumulated such huge black holes in such a short period of time in the early universe, which has plagued scientists for many years.When a star explodes, a black hole is created Supernova As well as collapse and smaller black holes can merge to form masses, these super-large quasars in the early universe are still mysterious. How did they become so large so quickly?
With this “new” quasar for research, the team is studying how such a supermassive black hole can obtain such a huge mass and range of formation in such a short time. The black holes of quasars are too large to be explained by some previous theories. In fact, the research team believes that even if the black hole formed as early as 100 million years after the Big Bang and grew as fast as possible, its mass is still only 10,000 times that of the sun and 1.6 billion times that of the sun. huge.
Fan Xiaohui, a professor and deputy head of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona, said: “This tells you that no matter what you do, the seeds of this black hole must be formed by a different mechanism.” “In this case, a large amount of raw cold hydrogen gas is involved. It will directly collapse into the seed black hole…” In order for the black hole to grow to the size we saw in J0313-1806, it must have begun to have at least 10,000 solar-mass seed black holes. It is only possible in the case of direct collapse . “
The team hopes to find more “born” quasars at the same time in the early universe to help them further explore and better understand how this huge, powerful object is formed.
In the same statement, Peter A. Strittmat researcher Jinyi Yang of the Butler Observatory said: “Our quasar survey is very wide and can scan almost half of the sky.” We have selected more candidates, and we will conduct more detailed observations based on these candidates.”
Yang added that future observations will be made using space-based telescopes such as NASA James Webb Space Telescope This research can be further promoted.
Wang said: “Using ground-based telescopes, we can only see a point source of light.” “Future observations may make it possible to resolve quasars in more detail, showing the structure of quasars and the distance the wind extends to their galaxies, which will enable We have a better understanding of its evolutionary stage.”
This work has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and will be published on January 12, 2021 237th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com, or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and Facebook.
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