J1148+5251 is the most distant object known

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In summary, the conversation discusses the discovery of the most distant object known, the quasar J1148+5251, which has a redshift of z=6.41 and is located in the constellation of Ursa Major. It also mentions the discovery of carbon and oxygen-containing gas clouds around the black hole in the quasar's core, indicating the presence of earlier stars. The second most distant object known is the quasar J1030+0524, with a redshift z=6.28, located in the constellation of Sextans. The names of these objects are based on their position in the sky, with J1148+5251 referring to its location in Ursa Major and J1030+0524 referring
  • #1
meteor
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J1148+5251 is the most distant object known, is a quasar and has a redshift of z=6.41. In its core lies the most massive black hole known, a moster of 3 billion solar masses. Now, astronomers have discovered that the first stars of this quasars started to form 650 million years after Big Bang
www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993974
 
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  • #2
That J1148+5251 quasar is 28 billion lightyears away

Originally posted by meteor
J1148+5251 is the most distant object known, is a quasar and has a redshift of z=6.41. In its core lies the most massive black hole known, a moster of 3 billion solar masses. Now, astronomers have discovered that the first stars of this quasars started to form 650 million years after Big Bang
www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993974

Exciting news, especially about the carbon and oxygen-containing gas cloud around the hole---evidence of a prior generation of stars during the brief 870 million years since time zero.

I plugged your figure of z = 6.41 into Ned Wright's Cosmic Calculator
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/CosmoCalc.html
and it told me that we see the quasar at a time 870 million years after zero,
and that the light travel time was 12.8 billion years,
and that the present distance to the quasar is 28 billion light years.
 
  • #3
I've done a quick search and have found that this quasar is situated in the constellation of Ursa Major
 
  • #4
Originally posted by meteor
I've done a quick search and have found that this quasar is situated in the constellation of Ursa Major

Bravo and thanks, meteor,
it is a pleasure to have a rough idea where important things in are in the sky
I will think of it tonight if I see the Great Bear


At Ned Wright's cosmology tutorial he has news of a quasar
with z = 6.4 posted since about November 2002. The astronomer reporting the quasar was Bob Becker. It could be the same quasar? What is new, in the report you linked us to, is the carbon/oxygen containing cloud of gas----evidence of earlier stars? Or is the quasar itself a recent find?
 
  • #5
Is the same quasar. I knew of it from time ago, but when it was announced they didn't gave a name for it . Now I'm glad to at least knowing what name it has
The second most distant object known is the quasar J1030+0524, with a redshift z=6.28, and situated in the constellation of Sextans
 
  • #6
Originally posted by meteor
Is the same quasar. I knew of it from time ago, but when it was announced they didn't gave a name for it . Now I'm glad to at least knowing what name it has
The second most distant object known is the quasar J1030+0524, with a redshift z=6.28, and situated in the constellation of Sextans

It would seem that the name J1148+5251
tells the position in the the sky
11 hours 48 minutes RA and +52 degrees
which is indeed in Ursa Major

There is also a star with a jupiter-size planet
in that constellation as I recall
so it has several associations
besides the main one with bears

edit: that direction to that quasar is marked by the star gammaUMa which is the one below where the handle joins onto
the dipper
 
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1. What is J1148+5251 and why is it significant?

J1148+5251 is a distant quasar, which is a very bright and energetic object powered by a supermassive black hole. It is significant because it is currently the most distant object known, meaning it is the farthest object that we have been able to detect and study.

2. How far away is J1148+5251?

J1148+5251 is approximately 13.2 billion light years away from Earth. This means that the light we are seeing from it today has been traveling for 13.2 billion years to reach us.

3. How was J1148+5251 discovered and confirmed as the most distant object?

J1148+5251 was first discovered in 2003 using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Its distance was later confirmed in 2011 using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), a powerful telescope array in Chile that is specifically designed to study distant and faint objects in the universe.

4. What does the discovery of J1148+5251 tell us about the early universe?

The discovery of J1148+5251 is significant because it gives us a glimpse into the early universe. Since light takes time to travel, observing objects that are far away also means we are looking back in time. J1148+5251 is so distant that it is estimated to have formed only 900 million years after the Big Bang, providing valuable insights into the early stages of the universe.

5. How does the distance of J1148+5251 affect our understanding of the universe?

Studying objects like J1148+5251 that are located at extreme distances can help us better understand the universe as a whole. By analyzing the light and properties of these distant objects, scientists can learn more about the conditions and processes that were present in the early universe, leading to a deeper understanding of how the universe has evolved over time.

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