Superbrilliant Galaxy Got Its Energy by Gobbling Up Its Neighbors

[Judi Lynn]

By Charles Q. Choi, Space.com Contributor | November 15, 2018 02:32pm ET

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An artist's depiction of the brightest known galaxy, WISE J224607.57−052635.0, and the three companion galaxies it is stripping material from.
Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello

The most luminous galaxy known appears to have devoured three smaller galaxies at the same time, revealing details about why it shone so brightly.

This discovery may help explain how the giant black holes behind such extraordinary light shows reached exceedingly large sizes early in cosmic history, according to the new study.

Supermassive black holes with masses millions to billions of times that of the sun are thought to lurk at the centers of most, if not all, galaxies. When these giants devour matter, previous research suggested they release extraordinarily large amounts of light and likely are the driving force behind quasars — blazing dynamos that are among the brightest objects in the universe. [Behold the Mighty Quasar: The Science Behind These Galactic Lighthouses]

Astronomers can see quasars that shine from the farthest corners of the cosmos, which makes them among the most distant objects known. The farthest quasars are also the earliest quasars to have formed in the universe — the more distant a quasar is, the more time its light took to reach Earth.

More:
https://www.space.com/42443-brightest-galaxy-known-ate-3-galaxies.html