An energy blast 2 trillion times greater anything our Sun can produce may solve a perplexing mystery about black holes.
The source of this megablast is a quasar, or quasi-stellar radio source. Found at the core of young, distant galaxies, quasars are believed to be among the most powerful energy sources in the universe. They’re capable of spitting out enormous amounts of material from an accretion disc surrounding a supermassive black hole that can measure 10,000 times the average size.
Currently, theoretical models of the universe overestimate the mass of black holes relative to the mass of their galactic homes. The quasar observed may be blowing out enough stuff to explain where the missing mass goes.
That is, if this big boom isn’t just a flash in the pan. One of these mighty emissions isn’t enough. Massive quasar blasts must be plentiful throughout the universe for that theory to hold, and this is the only one found to date.
