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Incredible cosmic phenomenon: quasar surpasses any known brightness, emitting 500 trillion times more light than the Sun!
Did you know that there is something in the cosmos so bright that it defies imagination? Scientists have just discovered a quasar, called J059-4351, that shines impressively brightly. 500 trillion times more than the Sun!
What is a quasar? A quasar is an extremely luminous galactic nucleus powered by a rapidly accreting supermassive black hole. matter. It emits enormous amounts of energy, often surpassing the light from all the stars in the host galaxy, and is visible at great distances in the universe.
Located 12 billion light-years from Earth, this cosmic phenomenon is powered by a supermassive black hole that is growing at record speed. It's as if the universe is showing us its greatest work of energetic art.
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What makes this quasar so extraordinary?
Imagine a black hole devouring more than 413 solar masses per year, creating a spectacle of unimaginable light and heat.
The accretion disk around this black hole, which extends for 15.000 times the distance between the Sun and Neptune, heats to temperatures above 10.000 degrees Celsius, generating powerful winds that sweep away everything around it. According to Christian Wolf, leader of the research, this quasar is “the most violent place we know of in the universe”.
But wait, there's more! This black hole is the biggest "cosmic comedian" ever seen, consuming material at a rate of more than one solar mass per day. To give you an idea, if we compare the growth of this black hole to a marathon, it would be running at the speed of light!
Why did it take us so long to find him?
Surprisingly, this quasar was “hiding in plain sight.” Despite being incredibly bright, it was mistaken for an ordinary star when it first appeared in images captured in 1980.
How did this happen? Machine learning algorithms trained to identify quasars similar to those we already know about failed to detect something so unusual. It wasn’t until last year, using data from the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, that researchers finally realized their mistake. And of course, it took the powerful Very Large Telescope in Chile to confirm its incredible luminosity.
A window into the cosmic past
This quasar is more than an astronomical curiosity: it offers us a glimpse into the primitive universe, since its light took 12 billion years to reach us. Scientists are excited about the possibility of accurately measuring the mass of this colossal black hole, estimated to be 17 billion times that of the Sun.
According to Priyamvada Natarajan, an astrophysicist at Yale University, the giant accretion disk of this quasar could be the key to unlocking the secrets of the growth of black holes in the early universe.
Discoveries like this expand our understanding of the outer reaches of the universe. This quasar, which has probably been extinct for billions of years, continues to spark our scientific curiosity. As Christopher Onken, co-author of the study, said: “It’s amazing that something so brilliant could remain invisible for so long."
Astronomers believe this is a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. Wolf of the Australian National University emphasized: “Nothing should surpass this quasar in terms of brightness”. So if you enjoy marveling at the secrets of the universe, this is the discovery to keep an eye on!
Amazing, isn’t it? As we explore the vast depths of the cosmos, each discovery reminds us how little we know and how much there is yet to explore. And you, what do you think comes next?
It's amazing how the universe offers us these spectacular visions every day...beyond human comprehension.
The most important question is: After this black hole devours the galaxy where it is, what will happen? Will it continue to swallow other galaxies and also ours?