NASA’s Chandra Observatory Detects One of the fastest-Growing Black Holes ever Observed
Cambridge,Mass. – NASA’s โchandra X-ray Observatory has identified a quasar hosting โขa โblack hole with an exceptionally โขhigh rate of growth, offering newโข insights intoโ the evolutionโ of black holes and their impact on galactic โคenvironments.โ The quasar,designated RACS J0320-35,is located 12.8 billion light-years from Earth and is consuming matter at a rate equivalent tooโ the mass โof the Sun everyโค twoโข days.
This discovery addresses โaโข scientific mystery surroundingโ the origin of powerful jets of โparticles emanating from some black โคholes, as observed in RACS J0320-35.โข The presence of โsuch jets is unusual for quasars, suggesting a link between rapid black hole growth and jetโข formation.
The quasar was initially identified through a radio telescope survey using the Australian โคSquare Kilometer Array Pathfinder, โcomplemented by optical data from the Dark Energyโข Camera on the Victor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at the Cerroโฃ tololo Inter-American Observatory inโ chile. Subsequent observationsโฃ with the Gemini-Southโข Telescope โขon Cerro Pachon, Chile, precisely steadfast the quasar’s distance.
Detailsโข of โthe findings are published in a paper accepted for publication in The โAstrophysical Journal โคand are currently available at https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aded0a.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center โmanages theโฃ Chandra program, withโค science and flight operations conducted by theโค Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Centerโ in Cambridge and Burlington, Massachusetts, respectively.
Further details about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission can be found at https://www.nasa.gov/chandra and https://chandra.si.edu.
The discovery is accompanied by an โขartist’s illustration โคdepicting โฃthe quasar as a spiraling disk of orange, red, andโ yellow, โwith a centralโค black hole represented as a black egg shape surrounded by brilliant yellow light. An inset X-ray image from Chandra shows the black hole as aโ white dot with a purple ring. The illustration alsoโ highlights โa jet of particles โblasting away from the black hole.
Contact:
Megan Watzke
Chandra X-ray Center
617-496-7998
mwatzke@cfa.harvard.edu
Corinneโค Beckinger
Marshall โขSpace Flight Center,โ Huntsville, Alabama
256-544-0034
corinne.m.beckinger@nasa.gov
