Astronomers discover 83 supermassive black holes 13 billion light-years away from earth

Astronomers have discovered 83 quasars powered by supermassive black holes 13 billion light-years away from earth, from a time when the universe was less than 10 percent of its present age. 

A professor at the Princeton University in the US, Michael Strauss said, it is remarkable that such massive dense objects were able to form so soon after the Big Bang. He added further in his statement that understanding how black holes can form in the early universe, and just how common they are, is a challenge for cosmological models used by scientists to explain the evolution of universe after the Big Bang. 

This finding, published in the Astrophysical Journal, increases the number of black holes known at that epoch considerably, and reveals for the first time, how common they were in the early universe. 

In addition, it provides new insights into the effect of black holes on the physical state of gases in the early universe during its first few billion years. 

Supermassive black holes found at the centers of galaxies, can be millions or even billions of times more massive than our sun. While they are prevalent today, it is still unclear that when they were formed first, and how many existed in the distant early universe.

A supermassive black hole can be detected by observing the surrounding gases that accretes onto it, causing it to shine as a quasar.

Previous studies have been sensitive only to the very rare, most luminous quasars, and thus the most massive black holes. The new discoveries  however, probe the population of fainter quasars, powered by black holes with masses comparable to the most black holes seen in the present-day universe.