Random stuff: The hyperluminous quasar APM 08279+5255 is the most luminous object known in The Universe. It is between 100 trillion and 1 quadrillion times as luminous as the Sun. Its prodigious energy output is powered by the largest known supermassive black hole, weighing in at 23 billion Solar masses. It is also an example of a gravitationally lensed object, with three images of it showing up around a much nearer tilted spiral galaxy whose gravitational influence magnifies it and creates the triplicate images. This quasar is actually a giant elliptical galaxy with an AGN (Active Galactic Nucleus), and is located 23.6 billion light years away. Its light has been able reach us in less time than The Universe has existed due to the expansion of space. It was much closer to The Milky Way when the light reaching us now was emitted, though the Earth and even the Sun did not exist then, and we see this object as it existed when The Universe itself was very young. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APM_08279%2B5255
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 02:40:51 +0000