TON 618 – Everything you need to know about it.

TON 618 is one of the most massive and luminous known quasars, powered by a supermassive black hole.

Overview of TON 618

1. Location:
   • TON 618 is located in the constellation Canes Venatici.
2. Distance:
   • It is situated about 10.4 billion light-years from Earth, making it a very distant object.
3. Luminosity:
   • TON 618 is incredibly luminous, with a luminosity around 140 trillion times that of the Sun. This luminosity is due to the intense energy output from the accretion disk of its central black hole.
4. Black Hole Mass:
   • The supermassive black hole at the center of TON 618 is estimated to have a mass of around 66 billion solar masses. This makes it one of the largest black holes ever discovered.
5. Quasar:
   • As a quasar, TON 618 is an active galactic nucleus with a supermassive black hole at its center, surrounded by an accretion disk. The gravitational energy of the infalling material is converted into electromagnetic radiation, resulting in the quasar’s extraordinary brightness.

Significance

1. Understanding Supermassive Black Holes:
   • The extreme properties of TON 618 provide valuable insights into the formation and growth of supermassive black holes. Its sheer mass challenges current models of black hole growth and suggests that such objects can grow much faster and larger than previously thought.
2. Cosmological Probes:
   • Quasars like TON 618 serve as important cosmological probes. Their extreme luminosity allows them to be observed over vast distances, making them useful for studying the early universe, intergalactic medium, and large-scale structure of the cosmos.
3. High-energy Astrophysics:
   • Studying the radiation from TON 618 helps astronomers understand high-energy astrophysical processes. The light from its accretion disk and jets provides information on the behavior of matter in extreme gravitational fields.

Observations

• Redshift:
  • The redshift of TON 618 is approximately 2.219, indicating its great distance and the fact that we are observing it as it was billions of years ago.
• Detection:
  • TON 618 was first identified in 1957 in a survey of faint blue stars. Later observations revealed its true nature as a quasar. It was further studied in the 1970s when its redshift and extreme luminosity were determined.

Summary

TON 618 is a record-breaking quasar with one of the most massive black holes ever discovered. Its study provides crucial insights into the formation and evolution of supermassive black holes and the high-energy processes occurring in the early universe. Observing and understanding such extreme objects help refine our models of the cosmos and the dynamic processes that shape it.

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