S5 0014+81 Supermassive black hole
Meet One of the Most Powerful Quasars in the Known Universe
12.1 billion light-years away
luminosity is about 300 trillion times that of the Sun
The most luminous quasar - S5 0014+81
Right ascension 00h 17m 08.5s
Declination +81° 35′ 08
Redshift 3.366
S5 0014+81 is a distant, compact, hyperluminous, broad-absorption linequasar or blazar located near the high declination region of the constellation
Cepheus, near the North Equatorial Pole
It is shown that, whereas S5 0014+81 is almost certainly the most luminous quasar discovered so far, its other properties are similar to those of other high-z quasars. These properties include the physical interaction between continuum and line-emitting regions. Over the observed optical bandpass, L(3500-6700 A) is estimated to be approximately 1.2 x 10 to the 48th erg/s; this is considerably brighter than the steady state output of any known quasar. It is pointed out that the equivalent width of the C IV emission is consistent with an extension of the 'Baldwin effect,' a correlation with the continuum luminosity at a wavelength of 1550 A in the rest frame. A rich Lyman 'forest' of absorption systems is positioned predominantly shortward of the strong Ly-alpha emission.
Meet S5 0014+81, one of the most powerful things in the known universe. This colossal beast is actually a distant quasar (some 12.1 billion light-years away). If you aren’t familiar with quasars, it is generally believed that they are produced by supermassive black holes consuming matter, and it is this consumption that makes quasars, or “quasi-stellar radio sources” the brightest objects in the known universe.
As quasars consume matter, the material it is feeding on spins inwards towards the central black hole. As this material gets closer to the singularity, it spins faster and faster, causing significant friction and, thus, heat. Ultimately, the heat is so extreme that it gives off massive amounts of light and other forms of radiation, such as x-rays, light in visible parts of the spectrum, gamma rays, and radio waves.
Ultimately, quasars are so bright, and they emit so much energy, they are almost beyond comprehension. And S5 0014+81 is one of the most powerful quasars that we’ve ever discovered.
So, just how bright is it? Well, our solar system is about 2 light-years across. The sun isn’t even a light-years away from us—it stands about 93 million miles (150 million km) away. Yet, if this quasar was 100 light-years away, it would appear as bright as the Sun…despite being 63 million times more distant.
(300 trillion) times that of the Sun. If that isn’t enough, it is over 25 thousand times as luminous as all of the 200 billion stars ofthe Milky Way Galaxy combined(scientists estimate that there are between 100 and 400 billion stars in the milky way). These staggering figures make this quasar one of the most powerful objects in the known universe.
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