• Key Information

  • TON 618

  • Type
    Quasar amd Lyman-alpha blob
  • Diameter
    2,600 AU
  • Distance from Sun
    18.2 Gly (comoving distance)
  • Mass
    66 billion M☉
  • Temperature
    °F
  • Date of Discovery
    1957
  • Learning Point
  • As one of the most massive quasars known, TON 618 is billions of light years away from us, giving us an insight into what early galaxies were like, as well as showing the huge power supermassive blackholes can create.
  • Project
  • Find a definition of what a quasar is.
  • Location
  • Located in
    Canes Venatici
  • Fun Facts
  • It has a mass of over 66 billion times the mass of the Sun.
  • The galaxy is visibly 10.8 billion light years from us, but if we factor in the amount we and it have moved since then, it would be about 18.2 billion light years today.
  • A quasar is a very active galaxy, with the supermassive blackhole at the centre creating a vast amount of energy and light.
  • The light TON 618 creates is 140 trillion times brighter than our Sun, one of the brightest objects we know about.
  • TON 618 is also a Lyman-alpha blob, which is galaxy that has a large amount of gas around it that is activated by the effects of the supermassive blackhole of the galaxy.