SMSS J215728.21-360215.1, commonly known as J2157-3602, is one of the fastest growing black holes and one of the most powerful quasars known to exist as of 2021[update]. The quasar is located at redshift 4.75,[1] corresponding to a comoving distance of 2.5×1010 ly from Earth and to a light-travel distance of 1.25×1010 ly. It was discovered with the SkyMapper telescope at Australian National University's Siding Spring Observatory, announced in May 2018. It has an intrinsic bolometric luminosity of 6.95×1014 L☉ (2.66×1041 W) and an absolute magnitude of -32.36.[1][3][4][5][6]
SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 | |
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Observation data (Epoch ) | |
Constellation | Piscis Austrinus |
Right ascension | 21h 57m 28.21s |
Declination | −36° 02′ 15.1″ |
Redshift | 4.75[1] or 4.692[2] |
Other designations | |
J2157-3602 | |
See also: Quasar, List of quasars |
In July 2020 the black hole associated with the quasar was reported to be 34 billion solar masses, based on a study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.[7][8][2]
The yawning void known as J2157 eats stars like ours for breakfast. Perhaps every breakfast.