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Brightest and fastest-growing: astronomers identify record-breaking quasar

32 points by raattgift 3y ago

brabel 3y ago
For those too lazy to read: the quasar is a supermassive blackhole growing at the rate of 1 Sun per day and with an accretion disk 7 light-years in diameter. My question is: where does it find a Sun every day to eat??
- simonebrunozzi 3y ago
  hmm, antimatter? dark matter?
- tromp 3y ago
  It must be in a region of space where the density of stars is orders of magnitude higher than in our part of the Milky Way, where you only find a handful of stars within 7 light years. Thanks to attracting far away stars for billions of years I guess?!
- asicsp 3y ago
  Space is mostly empty, but probably adds up to be a Sun's equivalent of material across 7 light-years...
- misja111 3y ago
  To put things into perspective: the distance from us to the nearest star is 4.3 lightyears. With a 7-years wide accretion disk, I guess it will catch a lot of stars. Also we see it 12 billion years in the past. The universe was a lot more dense at that time so it could catch even more.
- The_Colonel 3y ago
  Supermassive blackholes reside in the center of galaxies which have higher density of matter / stars. Quasars are very distant and thus very old images of those galaxies from the time they were "cleaning" the area from surrounding matter. Milky way center was likely a quasar a long time ago as well, but it already passed this "cleaning" phase and there isn't much floating matter in the center anymore.
tromp 3y ago
> This makes it the most luminous object in the known Universe > J0529-4351 is over 500 trillion times more luminous than the Sun That appears to contradict Wikipedia [1] which lists SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 [2] as the most luminous at an intrinsic bolometric luminosity of ~ 6.9 × 10^14 Suns or ~ 2.6 × 1041 watts. Are there perhaps different ways of measuring luminosity? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_quasars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_quasars [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMSS_J215728.21-360215.1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMSS_J215728.21-360215.1
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
wizardforhire 3y ago
The exciting thing about this article is whats implied, there will probably be more possibly even larger ones to find. Tldr: it had been previously observed for decades and was mis-categorized.
Karellen 3y ago
I almost missed the colon in the title and was intrigued to learn more about these bright, fast-growing astronomers!
raattgift 3y ago
There is a brief video with pretty images (especially of the ESO VLT) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXFvPcgMnuQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXFvPcgMnuQ
- gigatexal 3y ago
  If I were terminally ill or just so old and frail to warrant the use of assisted suicide for whatever reason I would hope — though super unlikely - that instead of dying peacefully in a bed that instead I could be yeeted into a supermassive black hole. I just am so curious what it’s like. Of course I’d never be able to share what’s on the inside. But the experience would be worth it. Then I’d make my way to the central singularity and of course die but I’d know things no scientist would.
  - antihipocrat 3y ago
    Well we would definitely be the first for something. In the worst scenario the first to become spaghettified and atomised!
    - dreamcompiler 3y ago
      In very large black holes the tidal forces are gentle, so you wouldn't get spaghettified. It's the little black holes that tear you apart.
      - groestl 3y ago
        After all, we might be in a very large black hole, without noticing.
        antihipocrat 3y ago
        I've heard this many times before, but for some reason now is the first time it really hit me. Assuming this is true. What would the rate of our universe's expansion tell us about the black hole we are inside of? If matter were still falling into our black hole universe where would it show up from our perspective?

32 points by raattgift 3y ago

For those too lazy to read: the quasar is a supermassive blackhole growing at the rate of 1 Sun per day and with an accretion disk 7 light-years in diameter. My question is: where does it find a Sun every day to eat??

simonebrunozzi 3y ago
hmm, antimatter? dark matter?
tromp 3y ago
It must be in a region of space where the density of stars is orders of magnitude higher than in our part of the Milky Way, where you only find a handful of stars within 7 light years. Thanks to attracting far away stars for billions of years I guess?!
asicsp 3y ago
Space is mostly empty, but probably adds up to be a Sun's equivalent of material across 7 light-years...
misja111 3y ago
To put things into perspective: the distance from us to the nearest star is 4.3 lightyears. With a 7-years wide accretion disk, I guess it will catch a lot of stars. Also we see it 12 billion years in the past. The universe was a lot more dense at that time so it could catch even more.
The_Colonel 3y ago
Supermassive blackholes reside in the center of galaxies which have higher density of matter / stars. Quasars are very distant and thus very old images of those galaxies from the time they were "cleaning" the area from surrounding matter. Milky way center was likely a quasar a long time ago as well, but it already passed this "cleaning" phase and there isn't much floating matter in the center anymore.

tromp 3y ago

> This makes it the most luminous object in the known Universe > J0529-4351 is over 500 trillion times more luminous than the Sun That appears to contradict Wikipedia [1] which lists SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 [2] as the most luminous at an intrinsic bolometric luminosity of ~ 6.9 × 10^14 Suns or ~ 2.6 × 1041 watts. Are there perhaps different ways of measuring luminosity? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_quasars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_quasars [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMSS_J215728.21-360215.1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMSS_J215728.21-360215.1

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

wizardforhire 3y ago

The exciting thing about this article is whats implied, there will probably be more possibly even larger ones to find. Tldr: it had been previously observed for decades and was mis-categorized.

Karellen 3y ago

I almost missed the colon in the title and was intrigued to learn more about these bright, fast-growing astronomers!

raattgift 3y ago

There is a brief video with pretty images (especially of the ESO VLT) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXFvPcgMnuQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXFvPcgMnuQ

gigatexal 3y ago
If I were terminally ill or just so old and frail to warrant the use of assisted suicide for whatever reason I would hope — though super unlikely - that instead of dying peacefully in a bed that instead I could be yeeted into a supermassive black hole. I just am so curious what it’s like. Of course I’d never be able to share what’s on the inside. But the experience would be worth it. Then I’d make my way to the central singularity and of course die but I’d know things no scientist would.
- antihipocrat 3y ago
  Well we would definitely be the first for something. In the worst scenario the first to become spaghettified and atomised!
  - dreamcompiler 3y ago
    In very large black holes the tidal forces are gentle, so you wouldn't get spaghettified. It's the little black holes that tear you apart.
    - groestl 3y ago
      After all, we might be in a very large black hole, without noticing.
      - antihipocrat 3y ago
        I've heard this many times before, but for some reason now is the first time it really hit me. Assuming this is true. What would the rate of our universe's expansion tell us about the black hole we are inside of? If matter were still falling into our black hole universe where would it show up from our perspective?