Astronomers have discovered that a DISTANT QUASAR could be responsible for the shutdown of star formation in galaxies in its vicinity. The quasar, known as VIKJ2348-3054is one of the most distant quasars known, and its intense radiation appears to have suppressed the formation of new stars in the surrounding galaxies – until at least 16 million light years away.

Quasar: Powerful and destructive

Quasars are among the brightest and most energetic objects in the universe. They get their energy from supermassive black holes in the centre of galaxies, where hot gas and releases enormous amounts of energy.

In the case of VIK J2348-3054, the light from the quasar 13 billion years to reach us and give us a glimpse of the universe when it was just 770 million years old.

At this point, the black hole that drives the quasar was already 2 billion times more massive than the sunwhich means that a considerable amount of material was consumed in a relatively short period of time.

Astronomers expected that the quasar galaxy is surrounded by many galaxies in which stars are formed, especially given the dense environment of a Galaxy clusters where new stars should actually be forming. To their surprise, however, the exact opposite was observed.

A dead zone for star formation

Trystan Lambert, an astronomer from the University of Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile, and his team discovered a significant void around the quasar. The closest star-forming galaxy was found 16.8 million light years away – over six times the distance between Milky Way and its neighbouring Andromeda GalaxyThis suggests that the quasar’s intense radiation has effectively stopped the formation of new stars in its vicinity.

“It was shocking,” Lambert said of the discovery. “You would expect to find more (star-forming galaxies) near the quasar than far away, and we found the exact opposite.”

Lambert’s team made this discovery by searching a much larger region around the quasar than previous studies. Their results suggest that Quasars are not benign cosmic neighbors, but violent forces that affect their environment.

The prevailing theory is that the quasar’s radiation heats the gas in nearby galaxies, preventing it from collapsing and forming new stars. Quasars generate enormous amounts of energy, and this energy can drastically change the conditions in nearby galaxies.

If the gas is too hot, it cannot cool and condense into the dense clouds necessary for star formation. In this way, VIK J2348-3054 could be suitable for the formation of a Star formation dead zone within its local cosmic neighborhood.

However, not all astronomers are convinced that the quasar alone is responsible for this phenomenon. Martin Reesan astronomer at University of Cambridgesuggests that the absence of star-forming galaxies near the quasar may be merely a statistical anomaly.

Since the volume of space increases with distance, the discovery of more galaxies at greater distances may be due to the larger volume of space rather than the influence of the quasar itself.

Future observations could confirm the results

To test this hypothesis, future observations with more sensitive instruments will be required. If astronomers can find additional Star forming galaxies If we find astronomers further away from the quasar, while we still cannot find any quasars in its immediate vicinity, this would support the idea that the quasar’s radiation is indeed responsible for the end of star formation in its immediate vicinity.

The discovery also raises interesting questions about whether quasars may have influenced star formation in other galaxies, including our own. One example is M87a massive galaxy about 54 million light years from the Milky Way.

It is home to a supermassive black hole which probably powered a quasar in the early Universe. When the Universe was younger and smaller, M87 was much closer to the Milky Way and may have influenced the star formation history of our own galaxy.

Understanding how Quasars Impacts on their environment could provide valuable insights into the evolution of galaxies and the complex interplay between Black holes, Star formationand cosmic history.