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| A Hubble Space Telescope image of quasar 3C 273’s core, captured using a coronagraph to block the glare from its supermassive black hole, reveals unprecedented details like strange filaments, lobes, and an L-shaped structure, likely caused by small galaxies being consumed by the black hole. Located 2.5 billion light-years away, 3C 273 was the first quasar discovered in 1963. |
Astronomers have harnessed the power of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to peer deeper than ever into the heart of the energetic quasar 3C 273, revealing remarkable new details about its surrounding environment. Quasars, known for their bright glow fueled by black holes consuming material, continue to intrigue scientists with their complex dynamics.
Bin Ren from the Côte d’Azur Observatory in France, who led the study, described the findings as unveiling “weird things” around the black hole, including “blobs of different sizes” and a mysterious L-shaped filament. These objects, located within 16,000 light-years of the black hole, could be small satellite galaxies falling into the quasar, contributing to the immense energy output as material is sucked into the black hole.
Hubble’s sharp imaging capabilities, especially the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), allowed scientists to view these features in unprecedented detail, offering insights into the complex environment around the quasar. “Thanks to Hubble’s observing power, we’re opening a new gateway into understanding quasars,” said Ren, who expressed excitement over the unprecedented detail provided by the images.
Quasar 3C 273, identified in 1963 as the first known quasar, is located 2.5 billion light-years away from Earth. Its discovery revolutionized our understanding of distant, energetic objects in the universe. The quasar is more luminous than even the brightest giant elliptical galaxies, with a brightness over 10 times that of the brightest galaxy in the sky. This led astronomers to hypothesize that its energy was likely generated by material falling onto a supermassive black hole.
Hubble’s observations revealed that the region surrounding quasars is far more intricate than initially thought. Images from 1994 showed that galactic collisions and mergers contribute to fueling quasars by sending debris toward the supermassive black holes at their centers. These interactions reignite the black holes, making quasars some of the most energetic objects in the universe.
The challenge for astronomers is studying these phenomena, given the brightness of the quasar. Trying to observe the faint details around such a powerful object is like “looking directly into a blinding car headlight and trying to see an ant crawling on the rim,” Ren explained. However, Hubble’s STIS functions like a coronagraph, blocking the bright light of the quasar, allowing astronomers to see much closer to the black hole—up to eight times closer than before.
One of the key findings was the motion of a 300,000-light-year-long jet of material emanating from the black hole. This jet, blazing across space at nearly the speed of light, was observed to be moving faster at greater distances from the black hole. By comparing Hubble’s new images with those taken 22 years ago, the team was able to chart the motion of this powerful jet and gain a deeper understanding of the quasar’s dynamics.
“The fine spatial structures and jet motion provided by Hubble are bridging the gap between small-scale radio observations and large-scale optical imaging,” said Ren. “This allows us to take a significant step towards understanding quasar host galaxies and their complex interactions.”
With over a million quasars scattered across the universe, these energetic objects serve as important beacons for astronomers to study the cosmos. Quasars were especially abundant in the universe’s early years, around 3 billion years after the Big Bang, a period marked by frequent galaxy collisions.
As Hubble continues to operate beyond its three-decade milestone, its discoveries continue to shape our understanding of the universe. Future observations with the James Webb Space Telescope, particularly in infrared light, may further expand our knowledge of 3C 273 and other quasars, offering even more clues about the energetic processes at play in these distant cosmic objects.
The Hubble Space Telescope remains a testament to international cooperation, operated by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Through its continued groundbreaking work, Hubble is providing a window into some of the most distant and mysterious phenomena in the universe.