Ultra-Bright Galaxy Feeds Its Black Hole by Ripping Material From Neighbors

An ALMA image of W2246-0526, the bright, central galaxy, feeding off of its neighbor galaxies through streams of dust and gas. (Credit: T. Diaz-Santos et al.; N. Lira; ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)) In the early days of our universe, the gravity of an ultra-bright galaxy pulled streams of dust and gas from nearby galaxies to power its supermassive black hole and associated bright quasar. Now, for the first time ever, researchers have observed this cosmic interaction. When gravitational forces shepherd material like dust and gas into a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy, that material grinds together and emits energy that's observed as a quasar. A quasar is the active center of a galaxy where a supermassive black hole shoots out jets of gas. Dusty quasars are a particular flavor of quasars that are also embedded in a blanket of dust that absorbs and re-emits the energy generated by ...