Key Takeaways
- An international team of astronomers discovered 83 new quasars, indicating supermassive black holes in the early universe.
- These quasars lie about 13 billion light years away, allowing a view of objects from close to the Big Bang.
- The team used the powerful Hyper Suprime-Cam on the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii to locate these ancient quasars.
- The findings reveal insights into black hole formation in the early universe, which remains a mystery.
- One of the discovered quasars, HSC J124353.93+010038.5, has a surprisingly low brightness, intriguing scientists for further study.
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Astronomers have spotted 83 new quasars, each hosting colossal black holes from 13 billion years ago
Discovery of 83 Ancient Quasars Shines Light on Early Universe
A team of international astronomers recently announced the discovery of 83 ancient quasars—bright, star-like sources of light powered by supermassive black holes—dating back to the early universe. Using the Hyper Suprime-Cam mounted on the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, these astronomers observed some of the oldest cosmic objects known, detecting their light from around 13 billion light years away. This vast distance places these quasars in a time period just under a billion years after the Big Bang, providing a rare window into how massive black holes might have formed so soon after the universe’s creation.
The survey took place over a span of five years and required extensive sky coverage to capture deep, detailed images of the universe’s remote reaches. Once initial data was gathered, the team used several international telescopes to confirm the presence of these quasars, all of which harbor supermassive black holes with masses reaching millions or even billions of times that of our sun. By focusing on quasars, scientists can study the properties and history of black holes, which are difficult to observe directly but can be inferred through their interaction with nearby gas clouds, which produce bright emissions of light.
Shedding Light on the Early Universe’s Supermassive Black Holes
Quasars are typically located at the centers of galaxies, where they generate powerful gravitational fields that attract swirling clouds of gas. These gases emit immense amounts of light as they spiral towards the black hole. Quasars thus become identifiable even across great distances, enabling researchers to trace the presence of supermassive black holes in the early cosmos. Finding 83 quasars at such a far distance suggests that the formation of supermassive black holes began relatively early in the universe’s history. This challenges current theories about black hole growth, which struggle to explain the presence of such massive structures only hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang.
A particularly interesting discovery was a quasar with an unexpectedly low brightness—HSC J124353.93+010038.5—reported in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. This unique quasar may represent a distinct category of low-brightness quasars or reflect the diversity in supermassive black hole evolution. Michael Strauss, a co-author of the study, highlighted the excitement surrounding these early, dense structures, as they reveal new aspects of black hole formation and evolution.
Yoshiki Matsuoka, who led the research, emphasized the potential of these findings to fuel further investigations. Advanced telescopes, both current and upcoming, could help scientists track the development of quasars over billions of years and provide clues about the role of supermassive black holes in shaping early galaxies. Each new discovery contributes to a better understanding of black hole origins and the universe’s early formation period, with this study marking a major step forward in uncovering these ancient cosmic mysteries.
How could black holes even theoretically form so early in the universe? How many quasars and things can’t we see because their light hasn’t reached us yet?
I love astronomy.
I’m a bit confused about the nature of supermassive black holes. The actual “stuff” these black holes are made of is still theoretically one mathematical point of super dense matter, right? That point just has way more mass than your average black hole, so what makes them seem “bigger” to us is really their increased gravitational pull on everything else. Do I have the right idea so far, or does the actual “black hole” part take up more space than a singularity?
At what point do Supermassive Black Holes just get renamed to Black Holes and regular Black Holes get renamed to Baby Black Holes.
Why is it so remarkable that black holes would’ve formed in the early universe? Don’t stars tend to have a shorter lifespan the bigger they are? And aren’t huge stars the source of all black holes?
Also, is there any mass at which a large amount of accreting gas just skips the whole “becoming a star” thing and turns into a black hole?
Can someone tell me how it’s possibble that they can find black holes millions of lightyears away (regardless of how giant they are), yet planet X is still just a theory, even though they’re sure of it? I mean how can you see shit in other galaxies, but can’t find a planet in your own solar system?
Relative to the rest of the observable universe, is this a lot of black holes? Because it doesn’t seem like it from someone who has no prior knowledge on the topic.
Relative to the rest of the observable universe, is this a lot of black holes? Because it doesn’t seem like it from someone who has no prior knowledge on the topic.
What is the distance between us and the closest black holes ?
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