Detecting the fastest 'massive' black hole in 9 billion years

An image from the SkyMapper Southern Sky Survey showing the growing black hole as a source of blue light. (Photo: Australian National University)

Australian scientists used the 1.3-meter SkyMapper Southern Sky Survey telescope, in Coonabarabran, to find an extremely bright quasar - a luminous object powered by a supermassive black hole.

This object, named J114447.7-430859.3, or J1144 for short, is 7,000 times brighter than all the light from the Milky Way, the Guardian reported on June 14.

Dr Christopher Onken, of the Australian National University and lead researcher, said the supermassive black hole "spreads approximately half the universe".

'The light we see from this growing black hole has been reaching us for about 7 billion years. The big bang happened an estimated 13.8 billion years ago,' he said.

According to scientists, J1144 is the most luminous quasar in the 9 billion year history of the universe. They estimate that the supermassive black hole consumes the same amount as Earth every second and has the mass of 3 billion Suns.

To date, the reason for J1144's unusual brightness remains unclear. 'It is possible that two large galaxies collided and created a funnel of gas towards the black hole,' Mr Onken said.

'We've been searching for these growing black holes since the early 1960s. But letting an object of this luminosity elude searches for so many years is remarkable,' he said.