Astronomers discover most luminous galaxy in universe

By Park Sae-jin Posted : May 29, 2015, 16:40 Updated : May 29, 2015, 16:40

 

U.S. space agency NASA said Thursday that its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope has discovered a remote galaxy that shines with the light of more than 300 trillion suns, making it the most luminous galaxy ever found.

The galaxy belongs to a recently discovered new class of objects, called extremely luminous infrared galaxies. NASA said its dazzling light may be due to a behemoth black hole at its belly.

"Supermassive black holes draw gas and matter into a disk around them, heating the disk to roaring temperatures of millions of degrees and blasting out high-energy, visible, ultraviolet and X-ray light," the space agency said in a statement.

When the dust heats up, it radiates infrared light, which was only now detected by the WISE telescope.

Because light from the galaxy hosting the black hole has traveled 12.5 billion years to reach us, astronomers are seeing the object as it was in the distant past, NASA said.

By Ruchi Singh
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