An Imperial-led team of astronomers has announced the discovery of the most distant quasar yet seen
by Simon Levey - Thursday 30 June 2011 An international team of astronomers has announced the discovery of the most distant quasar yet seen. The quasar is an extremely bright source of light visible at infrared wavelengths, emitted as gas falls into a very massive black hole. The scientists have named it ULAS J1120+0641. The discovery came to light thanks to data from an ongoing survey of the sky that is being conducted by scientists at the UK Infrared Telescope in Hawaii. Daniel Mortlock from Imperial College London is lead author on the paper describing the discovery, which is published in the journal Nature today. Looking further away in space means looking back in time, because of the time the light takes to travel. Therefore by looking further away astronomers can view the history of the universe.
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