Glowing galactic center located near a supermassive black hole
By Emily Elert Posted 11.28.2012 at 4:48 pm 3 Comments

Artist's Rendering of Huge Quasar Outflow
Artist's Rendering of Huge Quasar Outflow ESO/L. Calçada

Astronomers have found a galaxy whose super-luminous nucleus--called a quasar--is burning 100 times as much energy as the entire Milky Way galaxy.

Though theory has long predicted that quasars this powerful should exist, the newly-discovered object, known as SDSS J1106+1939, is by far the most energetic ever observed. The quasar is powered by a supermassive black hole that lies at its center.

Scientists made the discovery using the X-shooter spectrograph instrument attached to ESO's Very Large Telescope. The spectrograph split light coming from the quasar into its component wavelengths, allowing astronomers to observe the movement of material close to the quasar. The team calculated that the quasar is spewing an annual 400 suns worth of gas and dust, at a velocity of nearly 5000 miles per second.

Giant outflows like this one may be able to answer some big cosmic mysteries, like how the black hole at the center of each galaxy affects its size, and why there are so few big galaxies in the Universe.

3 Comments

Link to this comment
Robot
11/28/12 at 4:56 pm

And on another interesing note:
Giant Black Hole Could Upset Galaxy Evolution Models

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121128132116.htm

Link to this comment
Peter10
12/02/12 at 4:05 pm

"Burns", "is burning 100 times as much energy as the entire Milky Way galaxy", "is by far the most energetic ever observed", "The quasar is powered by a supermassive black hole that lies at its center" and "The team calculated that the quasar is spewing an annual 400 suns worth of gas and dust, at a velocity of nearly 5000 miles per second" give the impresion that all this is happening right now. All those articles should be writen in the past tense. We think that what we see is the present but everything we see around us, no matter how close to us, is always in the past.
On the other hand, when will everybody stick to the metric system? The resulting confusion has already cost many billions of dollars.

Link to this comment
K.Smoke
01/14/13 at 9:58 pm

interesting point Peter10 but a futile argument. In my opinion using present tense is simply to let us know the light display could possibly still be happening. We have no way of knowing really until the light burns out.


140 years of Popular Science at your fingertips.



Popular Science+ For iPad

Each issue has been completely reimagined for your iPad. See our amazing new vision for magazines that goes far beyond the printed page



Download Our App

Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone or Android phone with full articles, images and offline viewing



Follow Us On Twitter

Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed


April 2013: How It Works

For our annual How It Works issue, we break down everything from the massive Falcon Heavy rocket to a tiny DNA sequencer that connects to a USB port. We also take a look at an ambitious plan for faster-than-light travel and dive into the billion-dollar science of dog food.

Plus the latest Legos, Cadillac's plug-in hybrid, a tractor built for the apocalypse, and more.


Online Content Director: Suzanne LaBarre | Email
Senior Editor: Paul Adams | Email
Associate Editor: Dan Nosowitz | Email
Assistant Editor: Colin Lecher | Email
Assistant Editor:Rose Pastore | Email

Contributing Writers:
Rebecca Boyle | Email
Kelsey D. Atherton | Email
Francie Diep | Email
Shaunacy Ferro | Email

circ-top-header.gif
circ-cover.gif
bmxmag-ps