Current:Home > MarketsAstronomers find what may be the universe’s brightest object with a black hole devouring a sun a day-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Astronomers find what may be the universe’s brightest object with a black hole devouring a sun a day
View Date:2024-12-23 21:04:24
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronomers have discovered what may be the brightest object in the universe, a quasar with a black hole at its heart growing so fast that it swallows the equivalent of a sun a day.
The record-breaking quasar shines 500 trillion times brighter than our sun. The black hole powering this distant quasar is more than 17 billion times more immense than our sun, an Australian-led team reported Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.
While the quasar resembles a mere dot in images, scientists envision a ferocious place.
The rotating disk around the quasar’s black hole — the luminous swirling gas and other matter from gobbled-up stars — is like a cosmic hurricane.
“This quasar is the most violent place that we know in the universe,” lead author Christian Wolf of Australian National University said in an email.
The European Southern Observatory spotted the object, J0529-4351, during a 1980 sky survey, but it was thought to be a star. It was not identified as a quasar — the extremely active and luminous core of a galaxy — until last year. Observations by telescopes in Australia and Chile’s Atacama Desert clinched it.
“The exciting thing about this quasar is that it was hiding in plain sight and was misclassified as a star previously,” Yale University’s Priyamvada Natarajan, who was not involved in the study, said in an email.
These later observations and computer modeling have determined that the quasar is gobbling up the equivalent of 370 suns a year — roughly one a day. Further analysis shows the mass of the black hole to be 17 to 19 billion times that of our sun, according to the team. More observations are needed to understand its growth rate.
The quasar is 12 billion light-years away and has been around since the early days of the universe. A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
veryGood! (46245)
Related
- Mega Millions winning numbers for November 8 drawing: Jackpot rises to $361 million
- Christine King Farris, sister of Martin Luther King Jr., dies at age 95
- Standing Rock Asks Court to Shut Down Dakota Access Pipeline as Company Plans to Double Capacity
- Even With a 50-50 Split, a Biden Administration Senate Could Make Big Strides on Climate
- Beyoncé nominated for album of the year at Grammys — again. Will she finally win?
- Standing Rock Asks Court to Shut Down Dakota Access Pipeline as Company Plans to Double Capacity
- Arnold Schwarzenegger Recalls Moment He Told Maria Shriver He Fathered a Child With Housekeeper
- As Wildfire Smoke Blots Out the Sun in Northern California, Many Ask: ‘Where Are the Birds?’
- My Chemical Romance returns with ‘The Black Parade’ tour
- Titan investigators will try to find out why sub imploded. Here's what they'll do.
Ranking
- The View's Sara Haines Walks Off After Whoopi Goldberg's NSFW Confession
- In Exxon Climate Fraud Case, Judge Rejects Defense Tactic that Attacked the Prosecutor
- The Idol Makeup Artist Kirsten Coleman Reveals Euphoria Easter Eggs in the New Series
- RHOC's Shannon Beador Reveals the Real Reason for Her and Tamra Judge's Falling Out
- Horoscopes Today, November 9, 2024
- Idaho Murder Case: Ethan Chapin's Mom Shares How Family Is Coping After His Death
- Climate Scientists Take Their Closest Look Yet at the Warming Impact of Aviation Emissions
- Wage theft often goes unpunished despite state systems meant to combat it
Recommendation
-
Missouri prosecutor says he won’t charge Nelly after an August drug arrest
-
Chrissy Teigen Believed She Had an Identical Twin After Insane DNA Test Mishap
-
Mother dolphin and her baby rescued from Louisiana pond, where they had been trapped since Hurricane Ida
-
In a First, California Requires Solar Panels for New Homes. Will Other States Follow?
-
Powerball winning numbers for Nov. 13 drawing: Jackpot rises to $113 million
-
Court Sides With Trump on Keystone XL Permit, but Don’t Expect Fast Progress
-
The Warming Climates of the Arctic and the Tropics Squeeze the Mid-latitudes, Where Most People Live
-
Dylan Mulvaney addresses backlash from Bud Light partnership in new video