June 30, 2011 - BBC News
Astronomers have spied a monster black hole - the brightest object yet seen in the early Universe.
Detected by a UK telescope in Hawaii, the hole is seen as it was a mere 770 million years after the Big Bang.
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Thursday, June 30, 2011
'Monster' driving cosmic beacon
June 30, 2011 - BBC News
Astronomers have spied a monster black hole - the brightest object yet seen in the early Universe.
Detected by a UK telescope in Hawaii, the hole is seen as it was a mere 770 million years after the Big Bang.
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Mauna Kea telescopes find earliest-known quasar
June 29, 2011 - Star Advertiser
An international team of astronomers using telescopes on Mauna Kea have discovered the most distant and earliest-known quasar, a bright, starlike object believed to have formed just after the universe was created.
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The infrared sky survey was conducted at the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope and confirmed by observations with the Gemini North telescope, both on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The results are in the June 30 issue of the Journal Nature.
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An international team of astronomers using telescopes on Mauna Kea have discovered the most distant and earliest-known quasar, a bright, starlike object believed to have formed just after the universe was created.
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The infrared sky survey was conducted at the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope and confirmed by observations with the Gemini North telescope, both on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The results are in the June 30 issue of the Journal Nature.
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Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Mauna Kea Telescope Discovers Earliest Quasar
June 29, 2011 - KITV, Honolulu
A team of European astronomers said it has discovered the most distant and earliest quasar yet.
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The quasar was identified in images from a sky survey taken by the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope perched near the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. It was then confirmed by other telescopes, including the Gemini North telescope, also on Mauna Kea.
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A team of European astronomers said it has discovered the most distant and earliest quasar yet.
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The quasar was identified in images from a sky survey taken by the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope perched near the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. It was then confirmed by other telescopes, including the Gemini North telescope, also on Mauna Kea.
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It's the brightest object yet of our early universe
June 29, 2011 - MSNBC
Scientists have discovered the most brilliant object yet from the infancy of the cosmos, a super-bright galaxy that challenges notions of how extraordinarily massive black holes evolved.
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The distance to the quasar was then determined from observations made with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and the Gemini North Telescope. Based on how greatly the light from the quasar was stretched during its journey by the expansion of the universe, the scientists estimate the quasar existed only 770 million years after the Big Bang.
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Scientists have discovered the most brilliant object yet from the infancy of the cosmos, a super-bright galaxy that challenges notions of how extraordinarily massive black holes evolved.
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The distance to the quasar was then determined from observations made with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and the Gemini North Telescope. Based on how greatly the light from the quasar was stretched during its journey by the expansion of the universe, the scientists estimate the quasar existed only 770 million years after the Big Bang.
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Early universe's brightest object detected
June 29, 2011 - CBS News
(Space.com) Scientists have discovered the most brilliant object yet from the infancy of the cosmos, a super-bright galaxy that challenges notions of how extraordinarily massive black holes evolved.
The brilliant enigma is a quasar, a stage that some galaxies go through when lots of material falls into the supermassive black holes at their cores, giving off light as it does so.
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The distance to the quasar was then determined from observations made with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and the Gemini North Telescope. Based on how greatly the light from the quasar was stretched during its journey by the expansion of the universe, the scientists estimate the quasar existed only 770 million years after the Big Bang.
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(Space.com) Scientists have discovered the most brilliant object yet from the infancy of the cosmos, a super-bright galaxy that challenges notions of how extraordinarily massive black holes evolved.
The brilliant enigma is a quasar, a stage that some galaxies go through when lots of material falls into the supermassive black holes at their cores, giving off light as it does so.
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The distance to the quasar was then determined from observations made with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and the Gemini North Telescope. Based on how greatly the light from the quasar was stretched during its journey by the expansion of the universe, the scientists estimate the quasar existed only 770 million years after the Big Bang.
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Most distant quasar found
June 29, 2011 - Astronomy.com
A team of European astronomers has used the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) and a host of other telescopes to discover and study the most distant quasar found to date. This brilliant beacon, powered by a black hole with a mass two billion times that of the Sun, is by far the brightest object yet discovered in the early universe.
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The distance to the quasar was determined from observations made with the FORS2 instrument on ESO’s VLT and instruments on the Gemini North Telescope. Because the object is comparatively bright, it is possible to take a spectrum of it, which involves splitting the light from the object into its component colors. This technique allowed the astronomers to find out quite a lot about the quasar.
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A team of European astronomers has used the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) and a host of other telescopes to discover and study the most distant quasar found to date. This brilliant beacon, powered by a black hole with a mass two billion times that of the Sun, is by far the brightest object yet discovered in the early universe.
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The distance to the quasar was determined from observations made with the FORS2 instrument on ESO’s VLT and instruments on the Gemini North Telescope. Because the object is comparatively bright, it is possible to take a spectrum of it, which involves splitting the light from the object into its component colors. This technique allowed the astronomers to find out quite a lot about the quasar.
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Most distant quasar raises questions
June 29, 2011 - Science News
Astronomers peering at the early universe have glimpsed the most distant quasar yet. Powered by a black hole of 2 billion solar masses, the quasar appears as it did 12.9 billion years ago, when the universe as we know it today was just beginning to emerge from the Big Bang.
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Astronomers peering at the early universe have glimpsed the most distant quasar yet. Powered by a black hole of 2 billion solar masses, the quasar appears as it did 12.9 billion years ago, when the universe as we know it today was just beginning to emerge from the Big Bang.
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Far-Flung Known Quasar Offers Glimpse into Early Universe
June 29, 2011 - Scientific American
Peering far across space and time, astronomers have located a luminous beacon aglow when the universe was still in its infancy. That beacon, a bright astrophysical object known as a quasar, shines with the luminosity of 63 trillion suns as gas falling into a supermassive black holes compresses, heats up and radiates brightly. It is farther from Earth than any other known quasar—so distant that its light, emitted 13 billion years ago, is only now reaching Earth. Because of its extreme luminosity and record-setting distance, the quasar offers a unique opportunity to study the conditions of the universe as it underwent an important transition early in cosmic history.
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Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Powerful cosmic blast as black hole shreds star
June 16, 2011 - BBC News
Astronomers have spied a star's swan song as it is shredded by a black hole.
Researchers suspect that the star wandered too close to the black hole and got sucked in by the huge gravitational forces.
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The researchers used some of most powerful ground-based and space-based observatories - the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Gemini and Keck Telescopes.
Astronomers have spied a star's swan song as it is shredded by a black hole.
Researchers suspect that the star wandered too close to the black hole and got sucked in by the huge gravitational forces.
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The researchers used some of most powerful ground-based and space-based observatories - the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Gemini and Keck Telescopes.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Astronomers witness star being consumed
June 16, 2011 - West Hawaii Today
Astronomers were able to watch a black hole consume a star, thanks to Mauna Kea's Gemini North telescope.
NASA's Swift telescope first detected light from the incident, as a beam of light crossed 3.8 billion light years of space. A team of astronomers using Gemini North then rushed to make more observations.
"It is rare for stars to get very close to the black holes in the centers of galaxies, but when they do, they will always come off second best," University of Leicester Professor Nial Tanvir said.
The scientists' research was published in Thursday's edition of the journal Science.
Black holes consuming stars is probably fairly common, Gemini spokesman Peter Michaud said.
"What's interesting is we're actually watching a star being consumed," he said. "(Scientists) can see brightness concentrations where whole clumps of materials are being consumed."
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Astronomers were able to watch a black hole consume a star, thanks to Mauna Kea's Gemini North telescope.
NASA's Swift telescope first detected light from the incident, as a beam of light crossed 3.8 billion light years of space. A team of astronomers using Gemini North then rushed to make more observations.
"It is rare for stars to get very close to the black holes in the centers of galaxies, but when they do, they will always come off second best," University of Leicester Professor Nial Tanvir said.
The scientists' research was published in Thursday's edition of the journal Science.
Black holes consuming stars is probably fairly common, Gemini spokesman Peter Michaud said.
"What's interesting is we're actually watching a star being consumed," he said. "(Scientists) can see brightness concentrations where whole clumps of materials are being consumed."
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Star eaten by black hole
June 16, 2011 - AstronomyNow
The moment a star strayed too close to a hungry black hole was captured by the Swift satellite, which was blasted in the high energy death cry of the star as it was ripped apart.
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The gamma-ray flare likely began a few days before the Swift satellite picked it up, and may take up to a year to fade away. Once Swift had made the detection, further observations were made with the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Gemini and Keck telescopes in Hawaii, and the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope.
The moment a star strayed too close to a hungry black hole was captured by the Swift satellite, which was blasted in the high energy death cry of the star as it was ripped apart.
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The gamma-ray flare likely began a few days before the Swift satellite picked it up, and may take up to a year to fade away. Once Swift had made the detection, further observations were made with the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Gemini and Keck telescopes in Hawaii, and the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope.
Going out with a bang not a whimper
June 17, 2011 - BBC News
Ever wondered what it might be like to get sucked into a black hole?
Working with images from the Hubble Space Telescope, Nasa's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Swift satellite and the Gemini and Keck ground-based telescopes, scientists at Warwick University have enjoyed a ringside seat as the black hole at the centre of a distant galaxy has ripped apart and swallowed a star that strayed too close.
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Ever wondered what it might be like to get sucked into a black hole?
Working with images from the Hubble Space Telescope, Nasa's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Swift satellite and the Gemini and Keck ground-based telescopes, scientists at Warwick University have enjoyed a ringside seat as the black hole at the centre of a distant galaxy has ripped apart and swallowed a star that strayed too close.
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