QUASARS

Astronomers have discovered the brightest object ever seen at a time when the universe was less than one billion years old, with the help of NASA'S Hubble Space Telescope. The brilliant beacon is a quasar, the core of a galaxy with a black hole ravenously eating material surrounding it. Though the quasar is very far away- 12.8 billion light years- astronomers can detect it because a galaxy closer to Earth acts as a lens and makes the quasar look extra bright. The gravitational field of the closer galaxy warps space itself, bending and amplifying the distant quasar's light. This effect is called gravitational lensing. The super-bright quasar, cataloged as J043947.08+163415.7, could be the record of being the brightest in the early universe for some time. Shining with light equivalent to 600 trillion Suns, the quasar is fueled by a supermassive black hole at the heart of a young galaxy in the process of forming. An immense amount of energy is emitted as the black hole consumes material around it. The detection provides a rare opportunity to reveal how such black holes accompanied star formation in the early universe and influenced the assembly of galaxies.