{"id":23629,"date":"2021-03-08T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T13:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=23629"},"modified":"2021-03-07T12:29:44","modified_gmt":"2021-03-07T17:29:44","slug":"eso-most-distant-radio-loud-quasar-found-and-studied-with-the-very-large-telescope-vlt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=23629","title":{"rendered":"ESO: Most distant “radio-loud” quasar found and studied with the Very Large Telescope (VLT)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest report from the European Southern Observatory (ESO<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Most distant quasar with powerful radio jets discovered<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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This artist\u2019s impression shows how the distant quasar P172+18 and its radio jets may have looked. To date (early 2021), this is the most distant quasar with radio jets ever found and it was studied with the help of ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope. It is so distant that light from it has travelled for about 13 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the Universe was only about 780 million years old.Credits: ESO<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the help of the European Southern Observatory\u2019s Very Large Telescope (ESO\u2019s VLT), astronomers have discovered and studied in detail the most distant source of radio emission known to date. The source is a \u201cradio-loud\u201d quasar \u2014 a bright object with powerful jets emitting at radio wavelengths \u2014 that is so far away its light has taken 13 billion years to reach us. The discovery could provide important clues to help astronomers understand the early Universe.<\/p>\n

Quasars are very bright objects that lie at the centre of some galaxies and are powered by supermassive black holes. As the black hole consumes the surrounding gas, energy is released, allowing astronomers to spot them even when they are very far away.<\/p>\n

The newly discovered quasar, nicknamed P172+18, is so distant that light from it has travelled for about 13 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the Universe was just around 780 million years old. While more distant quasars have been discovered, this is the first time astronomers have been able to identify the telltale signatures of radio jets in a quasar this early on in the history of the Universe. Only about 10% of quasars \u2014 which astronomers classify as \u201cradio-loud\u201d \u2014 have jets, which shine brightly at radio frequencies [1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

P172+18 is powered by a black hole about 300 million times more massive than our Sun that is consuming gas at a stunning rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe black hole is eating up matter very rapidly, growing in mass at one of the highest rates ever observed,\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

explains astronomer Chiara Mazzucchelli, Fellow at ESO in Chile, who led the discovery together with Eduardo Ba\u00f1ados of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany.<\/p>\n