Scientists first discovered a distant and extremely luminous galaxy stealing material from their neighbors to feed a central black hole.
The quasar, designated W2246-0526, steals fuel to feed a supermassive black hole is considered the brightest known. At its center is a supermassive black hole, hidden from view by a huge amount of interstellar gas and dust. This type of object is known as a hot dusty galaxy or Hot DOG (Hot Dust-Obscured Galaxies).
Hot DOG galaxy emit mainly infrared radiation from the accreted substance around a supermassive black hole in their center, but so far the origin of this material has remained secret. One hypothesis was that it comes from the satellite galaxies being absorbed, but to this day no direct evidence has been obtained.
Using an array of ALMA radio telescopes in Chile, the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico, and the Hubble Space Telescope, an astronomer team identified three small galaxies around W2246-0526, labeled C1, C2 and C3. Scientists also discovered bridges of a dust-rich material connecting the central galaxy to C1 and C3, and a tidal tail extending to more distant C2. This system of galaxies contains as much gas as W2246-0526 itself.
ALMA pictures are important because, trying to understand extremely powerful galaxies, such as W2246-0526, we can look at the real details of the processes by which they become 10,000 times brighter than the Milky Way.
-Professor Andrew Blaine, co-author of the study from the University Leicester (UK)
The data obtained indicate that W2246-0526, which was born 1.3 billion years after the Big Bang, devours its neighbors, or at least deprives them of most of the gas. This inflow of material is sufficient to power and at the same time shade a black hole in the center of the quasar, as well as to provide the necessary amount of fuel for the formation of new stars with the current observed speed. Mass W2246-0526, according to scientists, can reach 120 billion solar masses.
Hot DOG galaxy steals fuel to feed a supermassive black hole
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