Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the ability of X-rays to pierce through the obscuring cloud, astronomers have discovered evidence of the farthest “cloaked” black hole found to date.
At only about six per cent of the current age of the universe, this is the first indication of a black hole hidden by gas at such an early time in the history of the cosmos, said the study set to be published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
According to current theories, a dense cloud of gas feeds material into the disk surrounding a supermassive black hole during its period of early growth, which “cloaks” or hides much of the quasar’s bright light from our view.