SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 explained

SMSS J215728.21-360215.1, commonly known as J2157-3602, is one of the fastest growing black holes and one of the most powerful quasars known to exist . The quasar is located at redshift 4.75, corresponding to a comoving distance of from Earth and to a light-travel distance of . It was discovered with the SkyMapper telescope at Australian National University's Siding Spring Observatory, announced in May 2018. It has an intrinsic bolometric luminosity of and an absolute magnitude of -32.36.^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}

In July 2020 the black hole associated with the quasar was reported to be 34 billion solar masses, based on a study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Notes and References

1. Wolf. Christian. Bian. Fuyan. Onken. Christopher. Schmidt. Brian. Tisserand. Patrick. Alonzi. Noura. Hon. Wei Jeat. Tonry. John. May 11, 2018. Discovery of the most ultra-luminous QSO using Gaia, SkyMapper and WISE. 1805.04317. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 35. 2018PASA...35...24W. 10.1017/pasa.2018.22. 55363916 .
2. News: A Very Hungry Black Hole Is Found, Gorging on Stars. Overbye. Dennis. May 17, 2018. The New York Times. May 25, 2018.
3. News: Newly Discovered 'Monster' Black Hole Has a Terrifying Diet. Paoletta. Rae. May 15, 2018. Yahoo News. May 25, 2018.
4. News: Newly discovered black hole is fastest growing on record. Scalise. Joseph. May 16, 2018. The Space Reporter. May 15, 2018. July 5, 2020. usurped. https://web.archive.org/web/20200705014543/https://thespacereporter.com/article.php?n=newly-discovered-black-hole-is-fastest-growing-on-record&id=147140.
5. News: Fastest Growing Black Hole Ever Has Been Discovered by Astronomers. Papadopoulos. Loukia. May 21, 2018. Interesting Engineering. May 25, 2018.