Images by Date
Images by Category
Solar System
Stars
Exoplanets
White Dwarfs
Supernovas
Neutron Stars
Black Holes
Milky Way Galaxy
Normal Galaxies
Quasars
Galaxy Clusters
Cosmology/Deep Field
Miscellaneous
Images by Interest
Space Scoop for Kids
4K JPG
Multiwavelength
Sky Map
Constellations
Photo Blog
Top Rated Images
Image Handouts
Desktops
Fits Files
Visual descriptions
Image Tutorials
Photo Album Tutorial
False Color
Cosmic Distance
Look-Back Time
Scale & Distance
Angular Measurement
Images & Processing
AVM/Metadata
Image Use Policy
Web Shortcuts
Chandra Blog
RSS Feed
Chronicle
Email Newsletter
News & Noteworthy
Image Use Policy
Questions & Answers
Glossary of Terms
Download Guide
Get Adobe Reader
More Information
Quasars & Active Galaxies
X-ray Astronomy Field Guide
Quasars & Active Galaxies
Questions and Answers
Quasars & Active Galaxies
Chandra Images
Quasars & Active Galaxies
Related Podcasts
Tour: Black Hole Destroys Star and Goes After Another
Download Image

More Information

More Images
Illustration of Quasar SDSSp J1306
(Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)


Related Images
SDSSp J1306:
Precocious Supermassive Black Holes Challenge Theories


SDSSp J1306
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/D.Schwartz & S.Virani; Illustration: CXC/M.Weiss

The X-rays observed by Chandra (inset) from the quasar SDSSp J1306 (or J1306) have taken 12.7 billion light years to reach Earth, only a billion years less than the estimated 13.7-billion-year age of the Universe. Surprisingly, in this quasar, which is seen as it was at an early epoch, the distribution of X-rays with energy - the X-ray spectrum - is indistinguishable from that of nearby, older quasars. The smaller object in the upper left of the image is a foreground galaxy.

The X-ray and optical properties of J1306 imply that a billion-solar-mass black hole is the central engine behind its prodigious energy output, which exceeds that of 20 trillion suns. The Chandra results for J1306, and similar XMM-Newton data on another distant quasar, provide evidence that supermassive black holes were fully grown less than a billion years after the Big Bang. This rapid growth is difficult to explain using most current models for the formation of supermassive black holes.

One possibility that might work is that millions of 100-solar-mass black holes formed from the collapse of massive stars in the young galaxy. These black holes subsequently built up a billion-solar-mass black hole in the center of the galaxy through mergers and accretion of gas.

The precise geometry and details of an X-ray producing region around a supermassive black hole are not known. However, it is known that the high-energy X-ray spectra of numerous quasars having a wide range of ages are very similar, so the conditions must be similar.

The accompanying illustration shows how these high-energy X-rays might be produced. Material from a large torus of gas and dust in the center of a galaxy is pulled toward a black hole. Most of the infalling gas is concentrated in a rapidly rotating disk, and a hot atmosphere or corona where temperatures can climb to billions of degrees. Collisions of low-energy optical, ultraviolet and X-ray photons from the disk with the hot electrons in the corona boost the energy of the photons up to the high-energy X-ray range.

Fast Facts for SDSSp J1306:
Credit  X-ray: NASA/CXC/D.Schwartz & S.Virani; Illustration: CXC/M.Weiss
Scale  Image is 0.6 arcmin across.
Category  Quasars & Active Galaxies
Coordinates (J2000)  RA 13h 06m 08.26s | Dec +03° 56' 26.30"
Constellation  Virgo
Observation Dates  November 29, 2003
Observation Time  33 hours
Obs. IDs  3966
Color Code  Intensity
Instrument  ACIS
Also Known As SDSSp J130608.26+035626.3
References D. Schwartz and S. Virani, Astrophys. J. 615, L21, 2004 D. Farrah et al. Astrophys. J. 611, L13, 2004
Distance Estimate  12.7 billion light years
Release Date  November 22, 2004