Hubble Telescope Finds Rare Double Quasars on the Verge of Collision; These Cosmic Objects Serve as Hallmarks of the Early Universe, Scientists Say

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The Hubble Space Telescope has now added another impressive feat to its catalog of discoveries. Just recently, astronomers were able to spot a rare double quasar from the far reaches of the universe using the esteemed instrument.

Rare Double Quasars Bound To Collide

According to Live Science, quasars are among the universe's brightest objects. In fact, the light that they release is stronger than the light emitted by the whole Milky Way galaxy.

The European Space Agency notes that these objects come to be when dust, gas, and other matter bits fall inside a supermassive black hole situated at a galaxy's center. As some particles accelerate at a speed that is close to that of light, they become remarkably bright. This is because of the strong gravity and friction that the black hole exerts on them.

Live Science adds that, on top of being extremely luminous objects, quasars are also very old objects. For them to become cosmic giants, it would take quite a long time.

This is true for the newly found binary quasars as well. They were reportedly formed roughly 10 billion years ago. Given this, the scientists theorize that these objects are hallmarks of the early universe. What makes things even more exciting for these quasars is that they have a twin nature.

Findings regarding the recently discovered double quasars were published in the Nature journal.

Yu-Ching Chen, the study's lead author and a researcher from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, says in a statement that spotting double quasars from the early universe is not a very common thing.

🆕 #Hubble finds double quasar from when the Universe was just 3 billion years old.

Embedded inside a pair of colliding galaxies, they are powered by voracious, supermassive #BlackHoles that engorge themselves on gas, dust & anything else within their gravitational grasp. 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/Axvw3kDGfq
— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) April 5, 2023

ALSO READ: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Sees Cosmic Quintuple Quasar; What Does It Mean?

Double Quasars of the Early Universe

Due to gravitational lensing, which is an effect that makes light bend around a huge source of gravity, it is quite hard for scientists to know if a double-quasar-looking phenomenon is indeed what it is or if it is merely an optical illusion. Hence, to double-check their discovery, the astronomers also used data from the W. M. Keck Observatory.

While astronomers were able to discover this binary system, Live Science adds that there is a likelihood that these double quasars do not exist anymore. This is because the two may have collided and merged to form an even bigger supermassive black hole. At the same time, their host galaxies may have also mixed to form one huge elliptical galaxy.

Scientists think that delving deeper into quasars such as this could help them learn more about the origins of galaxies. Xin Liu, a co-author of the study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, says that they are just starting to uncover the tip of the iceberg of binary quasars in the early universe. Liu adds that this is part of what makes the study unique, as it sheds light on the population of these binary quasars.

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