MIT astronomers discover the earliest known flickering quasar | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Skip to content ↓
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Search websites, locations, and people
See More Results
Suggestions or feedback?
Enter keywords to search for news articles:
Submit
Browse By
Topics
View All →
Explore:
Machine learning
Sustainability
Startups
Black holes
Classes and programs
Departments
View All →
Explore:
Aeronautics and Astronautics
Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Architecture
Political Science
Mechanical Engineering
Centers, Labs, & Programs
View All →
Explore:
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
Media Lab
Lincoln Laboratory
Schools
School of Architecture + Planning
School of Engineering
School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
Sloan School of Management
School of Science
MIT Schwarzman College of Computing
View all news coverage of MIT in the media →
Listen to audio content from MIT News →
Subscribe to MIT newsletter →
Close
Breadcrumb
MIT News
MIT astronomers discover the earliest known flickering quasar
MIT astronomers discover the earliest known flickering quasar
When the universe was just 850 million years old, this voracious black hole was already surprisingly mature, a new study finds.
Jennifer Chu<br>MIT News
Publication Date:
June 8, 2026
Press Inquiries
Press Contact:
Abby
Abazorius
Email:<br>abbya@mit.edu
Phone:<br>617-253-2709
MIT News Office
Media Download
↓ Download Image
Caption:
Astronomers at MIT and elsewhere have detected a quasar flickering from the very early universe. This artist’s concept illustrates a quasar accretion disk.
Credits:
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
*Terms of Use:
Images for download on the MIT News office website are made available to non-commercial entities, press and the general public under a<br>Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives license.<br>You may not alter the images provided, other than to crop them to size. A credit line must be used when reproducing images; if one is not provided<br>below, credit the images to "MIT."
Close
Caption:
Astronomers at MIT and elsewhere have detected a quasar flickering from the very early universe. This artist’s concept illustrates a quasar accretion disk.
Credits:
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Previous image<br>Next image
A supermassive black hole lies at the heart of every galaxy, including the Milky Way. When a black hole is active, it pulls material in as a whirlpool of high-temperature gas and dust. As this cosmic material piles up and falls onto a black hole, it lights up its vicinity, radiating a huge amount of energy.<br>The most energetic supermassive black holes are known as quasars, and they are some of the most active and luminous objects in the universe. These voracious systems take in so much material that the energy they emit can outshine all the light in the surrounding galaxy. The pattern of light from a quasar can give scientists clues to how active supermassive black holes shape the galaxies around them.<br>Now astronomers at MIT and elsewhere have detected a quasar flickering from the very early universe. The scientists traced the light from the quasar back to the “cosmic dawn,” just 850 million years after the Big Bang. The discovery represents the earliest flickering quasar detected to date.<br>“Although there have been a lot of quasars found in the cosmic dawn, this is the first time we actually see one flickering,” says Gene Leung, a postdoc in the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.<br>The quasar’s flicker enabled the researchers to determine that, surprisingly, the ancient quasar’s whirlpool of gas and dust, known as an accretion disk, resembled a flat pancake, similar in shape to that of more modern-day quasars.<br>Their findings add to a longstanding mystery in cosmology: Why do supermassive black holes exist so early in the universe’s history? Physicists have assumed that a flat accretion disk reflects a relatively mature black hole that is in a calm and stable state. Black holes that are just starting to form, like those in the very early universe, should be more unsettled systems, with accretion disks that appear more puffy and chaotic.<br>The flat accretion disk around this very early quasar heightens the mystery of how supermassive black holes can grow and mature in a very short amount of cosmic time.<br>“I think what this suggests is that all the messy, very rapid growth phases that we expect all black holes to go through at some point happen very, very early on, before we see them as these very bright luminous quasars,” says Anna-Christina Eilers, assistant professor of physics at MIT. “That’s the picture that’s emerging.”<br>Eilers, Leung, and their colleagues report their results in a paper appearing today in Nature Astronomy. Their co-authors include members of MIT Kavli and multiple other institutions.<br>Past a pinprick<br>A...