Astronomers have observed a massive black hole absorbing the equivalent of the sun every day, in the heart of the brightest quasar ever observed, according to a study whose results were published in the journal Nature.
“We have discovered the fastest growing black hole known to date,” Australian National University astronomer Christian Wolff, the lead author of the study, explained in a statement issued by the European Southern Observatory. “It has a mass of 17 billion suns and eats just over one sun per day.”
The supermassive black hole, which is invisible by definition, illuminates the heart of the galaxy it houses. This nucleus is called a quasar, and the nucleus observed by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT, located in Chile) is “the most luminous object in the known universe,” according to Christian Wolff.
It took 12 billion years for its light to reach the VLT’s instruments, making it possible to date its presence to the primordial era of the universe, 13.8 billion years ago.
Light from the black hole J0529-4351, which is the name given to it, was discovered in the 1980s, according to the study, the results of which were published on Monday. But automatic analysis of data from the Gaia satellite, which maps the galaxy, deemed it a very bright star.
As for researchers who used the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, and then the VLT’s X-shooter, they identified it last year as indeed a quasar.
The massive black hole it contains attracts a huge amount of matter, which is also accelerating at enormous speeds, and emits light equivalent to the light of more than 500 billion suns, according to a statement by the European Southern Observatory.
