Astronomers Find What May Be the Universe’s Brightest Object with a Black Hole Devouring a Sun a Day

An undated handout photo made available by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) shows an artist's impression of the record-breaking quasar J059-4351, the bright core of a distant galaxy that is powered by a supermassive black hole (issued 19 February 2024). (EPA/ESO/M. Kornmesser / Handout)
An undated handout photo made available by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) shows an artist's impression of the record-breaking quasar J059-4351, the bright core of a distant galaxy that is powered by a supermassive black hole (issued 19 February 2024). (EPA/ESO/M. Kornmesser / Handout)
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Astronomers Find What May Be the Universe’s Brightest Object with a Black Hole Devouring a Sun a Day

An undated handout photo made available by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) shows an artist's impression of the record-breaking quasar J059-4351, the bright core of a distant galaxy that is powered by a supermassive black hole (issued 19 February 2024). (EPA/ESO/M. Kornmesser / Handout)
An undated handout photo made available by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) shows an artist's impression of the record-breaking quasar J059-4351, the bright core of a distant galaxy that is powered by a supermassive black hole (issued 19 February 2024). (EPA/ESO/M. Kornmesser / Handout)

Astronomers have discovered what may be the brightest object in the universe, a quasar with a black hole at its heart growing so fast that it swallows the equivalent of a sun a day.

The record-breaking quasar shines 500 trillion times brighter than our sun. The black hole powering this distant quasar is more than 17 billion times more immense than our sun, an Australian-led team reported Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.

While the quasar resembles a mere dot in images, scientists envision a ferocious place.

The rotating disk around the quasar's black hole — the luminous swirling gas and other matter from gobbled-up stars — is like a cosmic hurricane.

“This quasar is the most violent place that we know in the universe,” lead author Christian Wolf of Australian National University said in an email.

The European Southern Observatory spotted the object, J0529-4351, during a 1980 sky survey, but it was thought to be a star. It was not identified as a quasar — the extremely active and luminous core of a galaxy — until last year. Observations by telescopes in Australia and Chile’s Atacama Desert clinched it.

“The exciting thing about this quasar is that it was hiding in plain sight and was misclassified as a star previously,” Yale University's Priyamvada Natarajan, who was not involved in the study, said in an email.

These later observations and computer modeling have determined that the quasar is gobbling up the equivalent of 370 suns a year — roughly one a day. Further analysis shows the mass of the black hole to be 17 to 19 billion times that of our sun, according to the team. More observations are needed to understand its growth rate.

The quasar is 12 billion light-years away and has been around since the early days of the universe. A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.



China Heatwaves Boost Ice Factory Sales

A worker uses tongs to move ice blocks inside a refrigerated store at the Feichao Ice Factory in Hangzhou. Heatwaves across China have caused demand for ice to soar  - AFP
A worker uses tongs to move ice blocks inside a refrigerated store at the Feichao Ice Factory in Hangzhou. Heatwaves across China have caused demand for ice to soar - AFP
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China Heatwaves Boost Ice Factory Sales

A worker uses tongs to move ice blocks inside a refrigerated store at the Feichao Ice Factory in Hangzhou. Heatwaves across China have caused demand for ice to soar  - AFP
A worker uses tongs to move ice blocks inside a refrigerated store at the Feichao Ice Factory in Hangzhou. Heatwaves across China have caused demand for ice to soar - AFP

In a high-ceilinged room on the outskirts of eastern China's Hangzhou, workers use tongs to slide large blocks of frosty white ice along a metal track into a refrigerated truck.

Sales have picked up in recent weeks, boosted by heatwaves sweeping the whole country as summer sets in, the owner of Feichao ice factory, Sun Chao, told AFP.

Globally, heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense because of climate change, experts say, and China is no exception -- 2024 was the country's hottest on record, and this year is also set to be a scorcher.

Last week, authorities warned of heat-related health risks across large swathes of eastern China, including Zhejiang province where Hangzhou is located.

"In the spring, autumn, and winter, a higher temperature of two to three degrees doesn't have a big impact on our sales," Sun said.

"But in the summer, when temperatures are slightly higher, it has a big impact."

Feichao is a relatively small facility that sells ice to markets, produce transporters, and event organizers.

As the mercury soared past 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in multiple cities across China recently, ice from businesses like Sun's was used to cool down huge outdoor venues.

In neighbouring Jiangsu province, organisers of a football match attended by over 60,000 people placed more than 10,000 large blocks of ice around the stadium, according to the state-owned Global Times.

As AFP watched lorries being loaded with Feichao's ice on Wednesday, an employee from a nearby seafood shop came on foot to purchase two ice blocks -- each selling for around $3.50 -- hauling them off in a large plastic bag.

"In May and June, I can sell around 100 tonnes a day. In July, that number grows, and I can sell around 300 to 400 tonnes," Sun told AFP.

China has endured a string of extreme summers in recent years.

In June, authorities issued heat warnings in Beijing as temperatures in the capital rose to nearly 40 degrees Celsius, while state media said 102 weather stations across the country logged their hottest-ever June day.

The same month, six people were killed and more than 80,000 evacuated due to floods in southern Guizhou province.

China is the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists generally agree are driving climate change and making extreme weather more intense and frequent.

It is also a global leader in renewable energy, adding capacity at a faster rate than any other country.