MIT astronomers detect earliest known flickering quasar from cosmic dawn era
By
Jennifer Chu | MIT News
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Summary
MIT astronomers have detected the earliest known flickering quasar, located 850 million years after the Big Bang during the cosmic dawn. This supermassive black hole's brightness varies over time, providing new insights into the behavior of early universe quasars and the formation of galaxies in the infant cosmos.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledThe most energetic supermassive black holes are known as quasars, and they are some of the most active and luminous objects in the universe.
These voracious systems take in so much material that the energy they emit can outshine all the light in the surrounding galaxy.
This is the earliest flickering quasar detected to date.
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