20th February, 2024
ANUPA MUKHERJEE
Astronomers have made a dazzling discovery in the distant universe, rewriting our understanding of black holes. Here's what you need to know:
It's known as J0529-4351. It's not the catchiest name, but refers to the object's coordinates in the sky.
Titan's surface chemistry lacks the building blocks for the type of life we're familiar with. Crucial molecules like amino acids are limited.
J0529-4351 outshines 500 trillion Suns! Despite its immense distance, it's so bright that we can still detect it.
This beast of a black hole devours the equivalent of one Sun every day.
The light from this quasar has taken 12 billion years to reach us. We see this black hole as it existed in the early universe.
Discoveries like this challenge our models of how supermassive black holes form and grow quickly, especially in the universe's youth.
The study of this record-breaking quasar is ongoing, and there's still much to learn about its nature and implications for understanding the cosmos.