Scientists find earliest supermassive black hole and quasar in the universe
The most distant quasar known has been discovered.
The quasar, observed just 670 million years after the Big Bang, is 1000 times more luminous than the Milky Way.
It is powered by the earliest known supermassive black hole, which weighs in at more than 1.6 billion times the mass of the Sun.
Seen more than 13 billion years ago, this fully formed distant quasar is also the earliest yet discovered, providing astronomers with insight into the formation of massive galaxies in the early Universe.
The result was released today at the January 2021 meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
IMAGE:
Elliptical galaxies are generally characterized by their relatively smooth appearance when compared with spiral galaxies (one of which is to the left) which have more flocculent structure interwoven with dust. view more
Credit: DES/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/DOE/AURA
Acknowledgments: Image processing: DES, Jen Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF s NOIRLab), Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin
The Dark Energy Survey has released a massive, public collection of astronomical data and calibrated images from six years of work. Containing data on nearly 700 million astronomical objects, this second data release in the Survey s seven-year history is the topic of sessions today and tomorrow at the 237th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society.[1]