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Astronomers using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) of the National Science Foundation have produced an image revealing tantalizing details of a quasar located about 13 billion light-years away from Earth – an object that could provide clues about physical processes. The first galaxies of the Universe
Scientists have studied a quasar called PSO J352.4034-15.3373 (P352-15), an unusually bright radio wave emitter for such a distant object. The extremely sharp VLBA radio "vision" showed that the object was divided into three main components, two of which show further subdivision. The components are spread out over a distance of about 5,000 light-years only
Quasars are galaxies with black holes supermassive to their nuclei – black holes millions or billions of times more massive than the Sun . The powerful gravitational attraction of such a black hole attracts the nearby material, which forms a rotating disk around the massive object. The rapidly spinning disc spews jets of particles that move outward at speeds approaching those of light. These energetic "engines" are brilliant light emitters and radio waves.
"It's the most detailed image of a galaxy as brilliant at this distance," said Emmanuel Momjian, of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO).
"There is a shortage of powerful radio transmitters known to the youth of the Universe and it is the most brilliant radio quasar of a decade or so ago," he said. Eduardo Banados of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Pasadena California. "We see the P352-15 as it was when the Universe was less than a billion years old, or only about 7% of its current age," said Chris Carilli, from NRAO. "It is towards the end of a period when the first stars and galaxies re-ionized the neutral hydrogen atoms that penetrated into the intergalactic space.Many observations can allow us to" 39, use this quasar as "background" lamp to measure the amount of neutral hydrogen "Astronomers have said that the three major components of P352-15 can be explained in two ways.An explanation is that they see the bright core of the quasar, corresponding to the location of the supermassive black hole itself, at one end, and the other two luminous dots are parts of a unilateral jet.
L & # 39; Another possibility is that their central object is the nucleus, and the other objects are jets ejected in opposite directions.Because one of the end objects is closest to the position of the quasar seen with light telescopes. visible they consider that the unilateral throw ral is the most likely explanation.
The one-sided jet explanation raises the exciting possibility Astronomers may be able to detect and measure the jet's expansion by observing P352-15 over several years.
"This quasar may be the farthest object in which we could measure the speed of such a jet," Momjian said.
If, instead, the central object is the nucleus, with two opposing jets, its small size suggests that it may be very young or be embedded in a dense gas that slows down. expansion of the jets.
"The brightness of this quasar and its great distance make it a unique tool for studying the conditions and processes that prevailed in the first galaxies of the Universe," said Carilli. "We are eager to discover more of his mysteries," he added.
Momjian, Banados and Carilli worked with Fabian Walter of the Max Planck Institute of Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany; and Bram Venemans, also from the Max Planck Institute. Astronomers report their findings in the Astrophysical Journal.
Related Links
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Milky Way dust particles discovered in a galaxy 11 billion light years of the Earth
Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Jul 04, 2018
An international research team, with the participation of the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, has found the same kind of interstellar dust we know of the Milky Way in a galaxy far away at 11 billion light-years from Earth. This type of dust has been found rare in other galaxies and the new discovery plays an important role in understanding what it takes for this particular type of interstellar dust to form.
The discovery of the persistence. On the left is a picture f … read more
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