[ad_1]
Astronomers using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio telescope captured the image of a powerful radio quasar shining at the dawn of the day. Universe 13 billion years ago. Cataloged as PSO J352.4034-15.3373 – P352-15 for short – the quasar is one of the few sources of light radios in the primordial Universe, allowing astronomers to study some of the processes involved. more enigmatic at work in this distant time. "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," said Eduardo Banados. Carnegie Institution for Science, Pasadena, California. Emmanuel Momjian of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) said that the VLBA's observations represent "the most detailed image of a galaxy as brilliant at this distance."
Quasars are thought to be galaxies with black holes in their nuclei with millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun. The unimaginable gravity of these black holes attracts gas and dust, forming a rotating disk that spits streams of energetic particles that glide at the speed of light. They can be light emitters of visible light and radio waves, which is the case with P352-15.
VLBA imaging shows that P352-15 is divided into three major components extending over 5,000 light-years. Two explanations are possible, say the astronomers. The black hole could be in the central component, with two huge jets flowing in opposite directions. Or, conversely, the black hole could be one of the final components with the other two features being part of a single jet.
This last option seems more likely because one of the components, presumably housing the black hole, is closest to the location of the visible light of P352-15. If that is the case, astronomers may be able to measure the jet's expansion over several years. If the middle object represents the black hole, its small size could indicate that it is very young or buried in a thick gas that slows the jets
Anyway, "we see P352-15 as it was when the Universe was less, "said Chris Carilli, of NRAO, a billion years ago, about 7% of his current age." This is close to the end of the year. a period when the first stars and galaxies were (igniting and) re-ionizing the neutral hydrogen atoms that penetrated into the intergalactic space. Other observations may allow us to use this quasar as a "bottom" lamp to measure the amount of neutral hydrogen remaining at that time.
The observations are reported in Astrophysical Journal .
"The brightness of this quasar and its great distance make it a unique tool to study the conditions and processes that prevailed in the first galaxies of the Universe," said Carilli. "We can not wait to discover more of its mysteries."
[ad_2]
Source link
