Pōniuāʻena (), also named J100758.264+211529.207 or J1007+2115, is the third most-distant

quasar A quasar ( ) is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. The emission from an AGN is powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole with a mass rangi ...

known, with a measured

redshift In physics, a redshift is an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy, of electromagnetic radiation (such as light). The opposite change, a decrease in wavelength and increase in frequency and e ...

of ''z'' = 7.515 or a lookback time of 13.02 billion years. Its 1.5 billion–

solar mass The solar mass () is a frequently used unit of mass in astronomy, equal to approximately . It is approximately equal to the mass of the Sun. It is often used to indicate the masses of other stars, as well as stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxie ...

black hole is the most distant known black hole with a mass of over one billion solar masses, and models indicate that it must have formed not later than 100 million years after the Big Bang, before

reionization In the fields of Big Bang theory and physical cosmology, cosmology, reionization is the process that caused electrically neutral atoms in the primordial universe to reionize after the lapse of the "Timeline of the Big Bang#Dark Ages, dark ages". ...

. Its discovery was announced in June 2020. Only the quasars ULAS J1342+0928 (''z'' = 7.54) and J0313–1806 (''z'' = 7.64) are known to be more distant. The quasar was primarily observed at the

Mauna Kea Observatories The Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO) are a group of independent astronomical research facilities and large telescope observatories that are located at the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii (island), Hawaiʻi, United States. The facilities are located i ...

on the

island of Hawaii Hawaii is the List of islands of the United States by area, largest island in the United States, located in the Hawaii, state of Hawaii, the southernmost state in the union. It is the southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcani ...

; it was first discovered at the

Gemini Observatory The Gemini Observatory comprises two 8.1-metre (26.6 ft) telescopes, Gemini North and Gemini South, situated in Hawaii and Chile, respectively. These twin telescopes offer extensive coverage of the northern and southern skies and rank among ...

and was further identified using data from the W. M. Keck Observatory,

UKIRT The United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT) is a 3.8 metre (150 inch) infrared reflecting telescope, the second largest dedicated infrared (1 to 30 micrometres) telescope in the world. It is located on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i as part of Mauna ...

Magellan Telescopes The Magellan Telescopes are a pair of optical telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The two telescopes are named after the astronomer Walter Baade and the philanthropist Landon T. Clay. First light for the telescopes was on ...

, and

ALMA Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'', an upcoming film by Sally Potter * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' ( ...

Hawaiian language Hawaiian (', ) is a critically endangered Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family, originating in and native to the Hawaiian Islands. It is the native language of the Hawaiian people. Hawaiian, along with English, is an offi ...

experts at

ʻImiloa Astronomy Center ʻImiloa Astronomy Center is an astronomy and culture education center located in Hilo, Hawaii. Conceived by founding Director George Jacob in 2001, it features exhibits and shows dealing with Native Hawaiians, Hawaiian culture and history, astr ...

gave it the name ''Pōniuāʻena'' , which "evokes the unseen spinning source of creation, surrounded by brilliance."

References

Further reading