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(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Quasars are among the brightest, most energetic objects in the universe, powered by supermassive black holes devouring matter at the centers of galaxies. Their extreme luminosity makes them visible across tremendous cosmic distances.
An international team of scientists has discovered 31 of the most ancient quasars ever found. Two of these are the earliest yet observed in cosmic history. They radiated the light of a trillion suns back when the universe was a mere 670 million years old. The findings, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, mark a significant step forward in our understanding of the early universe.
“These objects provide the best clues for understanding how supermassive black holes form,” said co-author Joseph Hennawi, a physics professor with joint appointments at UC Santa Barbara and Leiden University. “These monsters — weighing billions of times the mass of our sun — somehow already existed when the universe was in its infancy. We don't yet have a good understanding of how they grew so massive, so fast.”
Bright, yet elusive
