TON 618

TON 618 is an extremely distant and luminous quasar located near the border of the constellations Canes Venatici and Coma Berenices. It is one of the most massive and luminous active galactic nuclei (AGN) known to exist in the observable universe.

Characteristics:

TON 618 is believed to host a supermassive black hole with a mass estimated to be around 66 billion solar masses. This colossal black hole resides at the center of a massive galaxy. The extreme luminosity of TON 618 is attributed to the accretion disk surrounding the black hole. As matter spirals into the black hole, it heats up and emits tremendous amounts of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, including visible light, ultraviolet radiation, and X-rays. This process makes TON 618 appear as a quasar, a highly luminous and distant object.

Distance and Redshift:

TON 618 is located at a redshift of approximately z = 2.219. This translates to a comoving distance of roughly 18.2 billion light-years from Earth, meaning the light we observe from TON 618 was emitted billions of years ago. Due to the expansion of the universe, its recession velocity is a significant fraction of the speed of light.

Significance:

TON 618 is a subject of significant astronomical research due to its extreme properties. Studying it provides valuable insights into the formation and evolution of supermassive black holes and the active galactic nuclei that they power. It helps astronomers understand the processes that drive the most energetic phenomena in the universe and constrain models of black hole growth. The sheer size and luminosity of TON 618 pose challenges to existing theoretical frameworks and motivate further investigation into the physics of accretion and black hole dynamics.