Astrônomos detected the most luminous object ever recorded in the universe. Quasar J0529-4351 is more than 12 billion light-years away from Terra. Sua light has traveled since a time when the cosmos was less than two billion years old. The total brightness is equivalent to 500 trillion times that of the Sol.
Identification required precise observations. The material surrounding the central black hole forms a hot disk that releases energy on a large scale. Pesquisadores of Universidade Nacional Australiana led the work with support from Observatório Europeu of Sul.
Quasar J0529-4351 surpassed other known objects in luminosity
The quasar stands out among around a million similar objects already catalogued. Sua energy comes from a supermassive black hole. The accretion disk around it measures about seven light years in diameter.
Gás and dust fall towards the black hole. Friction raises the temperature to hundreds of thousands of degrees. Essa matter turns into plasma and emits visible light, X-rays and other forms of radiation. The process explains the extreme brightness.
- The central black hole has an estimated mass of 17 billion times that of Sol
- Ele accumulates matter equivalent to one Sol per day
- The quasar appears in the constellation Pictor, in the southern sky
- Sua light was initially captured in images from 1980 without correct identification
The object escaped correct classification for decades. Imagens older images of Telescópio Schmidt showed it, but excessive brightness led to it being considered a star of Via Láctea. Automatic Análises data from the Gaia satellite reinforced this idea until 2022.
Observações with Australian telescope began reassessment
Cientistas used the ANU 2.3 meter telescope on Observatório of Siding Spring. The measurements indicated that it was a distant quasar. The redshift of approximately 3.962 confirmed the large distance.
Ainda therefore lacked details about the actual luminosity scale. Full confirmation came with a more powerful instrument. The X-shooter spectrograph attached to Very Large Telescope, in the Atacama desert, on Chile, provided the decisive data.
Essas observations allowed us to accurately measure the black hole’s mass and accretion rate. The daily growth of solar mass represents the fastest pace ever documented for a black hole of this type.
Accretion Disco explains energy emission mechanism
The disk around the black hole is not uniform. Falling Matéria suffers intense heating due to internal friction. Extreme Temperaturas generate radiation that escapes in all directions.
Astrônomos estimate that the disk has a diameter of seven light years. Essa structure outscales many known systems. The quasar shows no clear signs of strong gravitational lensing that could artificially amplify the observed brightness.
Dados morphological features of Gaia indicate that the object appears point-like, without evidence of multiple typical lens images. The absence of significant foreground absorbers also supports the intrinsic interpretation of luminosity.
Buraco black grows at a pace that defies initial models
The accretion rate approaches the limit of Eddington. Modelos adjusted to the spectra point to annual consumption between 280 and 490 solar masses, depending on the viewing angle.
Esse rhythm occurred when the universe was young. The quasar makes it possible to study how supermassive black holes formed and evolved in the first billion cosmic years.
- The total bolometric emission reaches values close to 10^48.37 erg/s
- The quasar is classified as radio-quiet
- Future Observações may refine lens effect deletion
- The work was published in the magazine Nature Astronomy
Região from the sky and initial detection context
The quasar is located in the direction of the constellation Pictor. Imagens from wide-ranging surveys of the southern sky recorded the bright spot more than four decades ago.
The confusion with the 16th magnitude star persisted because the brightness exceeded expectations for distant quasars. Apenas Recent spectroscopic analyzes have separated the signal from the galactic background.
Pesquisadores highlight that the object was visible in public files. The discovery reinforces the importance of systematic reviews of old data with new tools.
The study involved international collaboration. Christian Wolf from ANU served as lead author. Christopher Onken also contributed analysis.