All posts tagged: quasars

Euclid finds 31 distant quasars dating back 800 million years

Euclid finds 31 distant quasars dating back 800 million years

Published by Jenni Sidey

Euclid has turned up a long-sought population of ancient quasars, including the most distant one yet seen. As a result, it has started to change how astronomers study the Universe’s first giant black holes. The European Space Agency telescope found 31 new quasars dating to a time when the cosmos was less than 800 million years old. Of these, twelve sit at redshift 7 or higher. That means their light comes from the first 770 million years after the Big Bang. Two go even farther back. The most distant, EUCL J172902.75+641018.1, has a redshift of about 7.77. This places it just 662 million years into cosmic history. A second, EUCL J125308.55+705432.3, sits at about 7.69. That matters because quasars at these distances are both rare and revealing. A quasar forms during a short, violent stage in a galaxy’s life. It appears when matter spirals into the central supermassive black hole and releases huge amounts of energy. The glare can outshine the rest of the galaxy by hundreds or even thousands of times. Therefore, quasars are …

Euclid telescope uncovers ancient quasars from early Universe

Euclid telescope uncovers ancient quasars from early Universe

Published by skeptic

The discoveries include the two most distant quasars ever observed, dating back to just 670 million years after the Big Bang, when the Universe was only around 5% of its current age. The findings significantly expand the known population of ancient quasars, more than doubling the number identified at this early stage of cosmic history. By uncovering these distant objects, researchers have gained new opportunities to investigate how the first supermassive black holes and galaxies formed and evolved. Discovered through data from Euclid’s Wide Survey, the newly identified quasars demonstrate the telescope’s ability to detect faint and extremely distant objects across vast areas of the sky. Scientists believe the results mark a major advance in understanding one of the most important periods in the evolution of the cosmos. Understanding ancient quasars Quasars are among the brightest objects in the Universe. They form during a short-lived phase in a galaxy’s evolution when enormous quantities of gas and dust fall into its central supermassive black hole. As this material is consumed, vast amounts of energy are released, …

MIT astronomers detect oldest known flickering quasar from the cosmic dawn

MIT astronomers detect oldest known flickering quasar from the cosmic dawn

Published by Jenni Sidey

A quasar from the universe’s first 850 million years has started to look less like a distant pinprick and more like a real physical system. By catching it flickering over time, astronomers have traced the structure of matter swirling around one of the earliest known supermassive black holes. What they found deepens one of cosmology’s biggest puzzles. The object, known as J0439+1634, sits at a redshift of 6.51. This means its light comes from a time just 850 million years after the Big Bang. Quasars are among the brightest objects in the universe, powered by supermassive black holes pulling in gas and dust. As that material spirals inward, it heats up and radiates enormous amounts of energy. Sometimes, it outshines the galaxy around it. Many quasars have already been found from this early era, often called the cosmic dawn. What makes this one stand out is not just its age, but its variability. Astronomers at MIT and elsewhere have detected a quasar flickering from the very early universe. This artist’s concept illustrates a quasar accretion …

Largest ever map of universe captures 47 million galaxies and quasars

Largest ever map of universe captures 47 million galaxies and quasars

Published by skeptic

A thin slice of the map produced by the DESI five-year survey shows galaxies and quasars above and below the plane of the Milky Way, with Earth at the centre Claire Lamman/DESI collaboration A five-year survey of the sky that has captured more than 47 million galaxies and quasars is now complete, enabling researchers to put the finishing touches on the most detailed map of the universe ever made. The data could help solve the mystery of an apparent weakening of dark energy, which threatens to upend our standard model of the cosmos. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona has been scanning the sky since 2021. Researchers originally expected its survey to gather data on 34 million galaxies and quasars, but DESI surprised researchers with its efficiency. Because of the vast distances involved, some of these extremely faint galaxies have been observed from just 100 or 200 photons. David Schlegel at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California says our previous maps of the cosmos include a total …