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Here's how it works. 1. Space Brightest black hole ever discovered devours a sun's-worth of matter every day News By Ben Turner published 19 February 2024 A distant quasar that was initially mistaken for a star is actually one of the brightest and fastest-growing black holes ever seen. * * * * * * * Comments (1) An artist's impression of a quasar An artist's impression of a quasar (Image credit: NASA) Scientists have spotted the brightest and fastest-growing quasar ever seen -- a monster black hole that's devouring a sun's-worth of material every day. The brightly burning object, named J0529-4351, weighs between 17 billion and 19 billion solar masses and is located 12 billion light-years from Earth -- meaning it dates to a time when the universe was only 1.5 billion years old. Related: James Webb telescope discovers the oldest, most distant black hole in the universe Black holes are born when giant stars collapse in on themselves, and they grow by devouring all they encounter -- be it gas, dust, stars, planets or other black holes. Friction can cause the material spiraling into the maws of these gluttonous space-time ruptures to heat up, which emits light that can be detected by telescopes, turning them into so-called active galactic nuclei (AGN). The most extreme AGNs are quasars -- supermassive black holes that are billions of times heavier than the sun and shed their gaseous cocoons with light blasts trillions of times more luminous than the brightest stars. The quasar initially showed up in a 2022 survey by the European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft, which has been mapping the positions and movements of the Milky Way's roughly 2 billion stars. However, as quasars often burn at least as brightly as stars, J0529-4351 was initially misidentified as one. (The word quasar itself is short for "quasi-stellar," because the two types of objects look so similar when seen through most telescopes.) After searching for potentially misidentified black holes in the survey, the researchers behind the new study, which they published Feb 19 in the journal Nature, found J0529-4351 hiding in plain sight. Further observations by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the Atacama Desert confirmed that the bright object is a gigantic quasar, not a star. RELATED STORIES --James Webb Telescope spots galaxies from the dawn of time that are so massive they 'shouldn't exist' --Black holes may be swallowing invisible matter that slows the movement of stars --What's the biggest black hole in the universe? By measuring the quasar's perceived brightness and adjusting for its distance from Earth, the researchers estimated that the object was burning with the power of roughly 50 trillion suns (or 10^41 Watts). This intense burn is owed to the fact that J0529-4351 is so big and consuming material so fast that it is very close to the Eddington limit -- an upper limit on how bright an object can be given its size, according to the study authors. The researchers hope that by studying the monstrous object they can both learn how quasars grew to such inexplicable sizes, as well as get better at distinguishing the monsters from among the brightest stars. "Although their luminosity implies rapid growth, their existence is hard to explain," the researchers wrote in the paper. "When black holes start from the remnant of a stellar collapse and grow episodically within the Eddington limit, they are not expected to reach the evident masses in the time from the Big Bang to the epoch of their observation, which has triggered a search for alternative scenarios." Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world's most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. [ ][ ]Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands[ ]Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors[Sign me up] By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Ben Turner Ben Turner Social Links Navigation Staff Writer Ben Turner is a U.K. based staff writer at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, among other topics like tech and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist. When he's not writing, Ben enjoys reading literature, playing the guitar and embarrassing himself with chess. More about space This image shows Gemini North, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, Space photo of the week: Astronomers make an 'artificial star' over Hawaii A galaxy cluster colorized to show invisible dark matter (blue) alongside regular, visible matter (red, green, and orange). There may be a 'dark mirror' universe within ours where atoms failed to form, new study suggests Latest A satellite image of a lake in a desert 'This is weird': Experts 'shocked' by record-breaking longevity of Death Valley's phantom lake See more latest > See all comments (1) [ ] 1 Comment Comment from the forums * Giovani admin said: A distant quasar that was initially mistaken for a star is actually one of the brightest and fastest-growing black holes ever seen. Astronomers find monster black hole devouring a sun's-worth of matter every day : Read more What is the admin said: A distant quasar that was initially mistaken for a star is actually one of the brightest and fastest-growing black holes ever seen. Astronomers find monster black hole devouring a sun's-worth of matter every day : Read more 12 billion years ago. Whatever happened to J0529-4351? This doesn't just fade away, Objects such as this are being discovered regularly. Something doesn't seem right concerning then and now. The energies are like nothing now that exists. Did these phenomena just fade in the sheer time involved? How could such encompassing objects not have engulfed creation to this day? Too many energies monstrous in size and power. We safely look back into unimaginable circumstances which appear as merely a curiosity now. I think there is more to the story than what humans can comprehend. Reply * View All 1 Comment Most Popular [missing-im]Elon Musk's Neuralink has concerning lack of transparency and could be vulnerable to hacking, ethicists warn By Nancy S. Jecker, Andrew KoFebruary 19, 2024 [missing-im]CRISPR 'will provide cures for genetic diseases that were incurable before,' says renowned biochemist Virginijus Siksnys By Nicoletta LaneseFebruary 19, 2024 [missing-im]Why are blueberries blue? 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