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Astronomical objects discovered in 1957Canes VenaticiLyman-alpha blobsQuasars

TON 618

Adapted from Wikipedia · Explorer experience

A stunning image of the quasar TON 618, a bright object far away in space, captured by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

TON 618 is one of the most amazing objects in the night sky. It is a very bright kind of space light called a quasar. This wonderful object is about 18.2 billion light-years away from our Earth.

What makes TON 618 special is the huge black hole at its center. Scientists think this black hole is one of the largest ever found. It helps us learn about the early universe and how big black holes grow.

TON 618 is also a special kind of bright space object called a Lyman-alpha blob. It shines very brightly and has special features in its light. Because of its location near the border of two star groups, Canes Venatici and Coma Berenices, TON 618 helps astronomers study how big and beautiful space is.

People first found TON 618 in 1957. It looked like a faint blue star in pictures taken with a telescope in Mexico. Later, in 1970, scientists discovered that it was a quasar. TON 618’s bright light and giant black hole make it very important for learning about the universe.

Images

The Crab Nebula is a beautiful cloud of glowing gas and dust formed from an ancient star explosion, showing vibrant colors of different elements scattered through space.
A colorful computer simulation showing how gas and galaxies are arranged in space around a group of stars.
A stunning view of Earth rising over the Moon, captured by astronauts during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968.
An artist's illustration of HE 1523-0901, one of the oldest known stars in our galaxy, located about 7,500 light-years from Earth.

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on TON 618, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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