ASTRONOMERS DISCOVER THE BRIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ÔÇö Astronomers have discovered what may be the brightest object in the universe, a quasar with a black hole at its heart growing so fast that it swallows the equivalent of a sun a day.

The record-breaking quasar shines 500 trillion times brighter than our sun. The black hole powering this distant quasar is more than 17 billion times more immense than our sun, an Australian-led team reported Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.

While the quasar resembles a mere dot in images, scientists envision a ferocious place.

The rotating disk around the quasar’s black hole ÔÇö the luminous swirling gas and other matter from gobbled-up stars ÔÇö is like a cosmic hurricane.

Analysis and Implications

ÔÇ£This quasar is the most violent place that we know in the universe,ÔÇØ lead author Christian Wolf of Australian National University said in an email.

The European Southern Observatory spotted the object, J0529-4351, during a 1980 sky survey, but it was thought to be a star. It was not identified as a quasar ÔÇö the extremely active and luminous core of a galaxy ÔÇö until last year. Observations by telescopes in Australia and ChileÔÇÖs Atacama Desert clinched it.

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Growth and Observations

ÔÇ£The exciting thing about this quasar is that it was hiding in plain sight and was misclassified as a star previously,ÔÇØ Yale University’s Priyamvada Natarajan, who was not involved in the study, said in an email.

These later observations and computer modeling have determined that the quasar is gobbling up the equivalent of 370 suns a year ÔÇö roughly one a day. Further analysis shows the mass of the black hole to be 17 to 19 billion times that of our sun, according to the team. More observations are needed to understand its growth rate.

Distance and Time

The quasar is 12 billion light-years away and has been around since the early days of the universe. A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical InstituteÔÇÖs Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press