A Quasar Emitted Radio Signals That Come From the Past

The Astrophysical Journal published a new study that revealed something interesting about radio signals. It appears that a quasar (P352-15) emitted the brightest radio signal that have ever reached Earth. More than that, it appears that these signals come from when the universe was not older than one billion years.

Understand the history of the first galaxies

These new findings might be very useful when it comes to understanding how the first galaxies were formed. P352-15 is a quasar that is 13 billion light years away from planet Earth. A quasar is a galaxy that has a massive black hole located in its center.

The radio signals detected by telescopes are in fact just radiation that comes from the jets of this region. According to experts, there are plenty of reasons to believe that the black hole located at the core of this galaxy is billion times larger than our sun.

Since this black hole is placed right at the center of the quasar, it has a strong gravitational pull that manages to draw in any material that is close-by. A huge risk is rotating around this object and jets of particles are emitted by it. The particles are close to the speed of light.

Eduardo Bañados, from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Pasadena, California claimed that this quasar emitted the brightest radio signal from the beginnings of the Universe. This discovery can be an important one, as the brightness of the quasar and it distance could offer scientists answers about the origins of the first galaxies in the universe.

“To be honest, at the beginning I did not believe that this was coming from the quasar. It was too strong. I had never seen such a strong radio-emitter when the universe was so young.” says Bañados.