![]() This discovery sheds light on the evolution of galaxies at “cosmic noon,” a period in the history of the Universe when galaxies underwent bursts of furious star formation. This artist's impression illustrates that astronomers using an array of ground- and space-based telescopes, including Gemini North on Hawai‘i, have uncovered a closely bound duo of energetic quasars - the hallmark of a pair of merging galaxies - seen when the Universe was only three billion years old. J0749+2255 is highly unusual because the system has not one, but two quasars that are active at the same time, and are close enough that they will eventually merge. This activity is called a quasar, a phenomenon that happens when black holes emit an enormous amount of light across the electromagnetic spectrum as they feast. But in this particular system, called J0749+2255, both black holes were on a feeding frenzy, devouring gas and dust that became heated at such high temperatures, the duo produced a massive fireworks show. The study, led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is published in today's issue of the journal Nature.įinding such a system is difficult because of the challenge distinguishing two black holes individually when they are so close together. Keck Observatory and Gemini North-the researchers found the pair of black holes embedded within two galaxies that merged when the universe was just 3 billion years young. ”I’ve been looking for something like this for a decade,” said Arav, “so it’s thrilling to finally find one of the monster outflows that have been predicted.Using a suite of space- and ground-based telescopes, including two Maunakea Observatories in Hawaiʻi-W. These theories could in turn help explain a number of mysteries, say the researchers, such as how the mass that makes up a galaxy interacts with the mass contained in a black hole at its center.Īs a result, astronomers and cosmologists have been searching for a quasar this energetic for some time. This discovery confirms theoretical calculations and computer simulations that predicted such enormous outflows of energy could exist. Image via NASA/CXC/A.Siemiginowska(CfA)/J.Bechtold(U.Arizona) The x-ray jet extends an estimated million light years from the quasar itself. In addition to radio waves and small amounts of visible light, quasars also eject matter and energy of a range of wavelengths, including X-rays.Īn X-ray image of a different quasar, labelled PKS 1127-145. Over time, as more powerful telescopes were developed, scientists were eventually able to see them. Since quasars mostly spew energy in the form of radio waves, rather than visible light, for years astronomers only knew them as sources of radio energy with no matching visible object. The team estimates that each year, it ejects a mass equivalent to roughly 400 suns, moving at a speed of roughly 8,000 kilometers per second. ![]() The team’s discovery, published today in The Astrophysical Journal, has an energy output more than five times as much as any previously known quasar. When all this matter is drawn together, it is eventually ejected in a powerful outflow that constitutes a quasar. While all this gravity easily sucks in visible light, scientists believe much of the matter doesn’t make it all the way in, instead condensing into a swirling accretion disk. ![]() Quasars, some of the most luminous and energetic objects in the known universe, result from matter drawn in by the immense gravitational force of the largest type of black holes. “This is about 100 times higher than the total power output of the Milky Way galaxy-it’s a real monster of an outflow.” ![]() “The rate that energy is carried away by this huge mass of material ejected at high speed from SDSS J1106+1939 is at least equivalent to two million two million million times the power output of the Sun,” said Nahum Arav of Virginia Tech in a statement. While that’s sort-of true, many black holes are surrounded by quasars: dense, matter-rich regions at the centers of galaxies that eject astonishing volumes of radio waves, light and many other forms of energy.Īstronomers, using data from the European Southern Observatory‘s Very Large Telescope in Chile, have spotted a quasar (labelled SDSS J1106+1939) that is spewing more energy than any one found previously. The stereotypical black hole is a region of space that powerfully sucks in anything that comes near.
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