UHZ1
UHZ1
Background galaxy containing a quasar
UHZ1 is a background galaxy containing a quasar. At a redshift of approximately 10.1, UHZ1 is at a distance of 13.2 billion light-years, seen when our universe was about 3 percent of its current age.[1][2] This redshift made it the most distant, and therefore earliest known quasar in the observable universe as of 2023.[3][4] To detect this object, astronomers working at the Chandra X-ray Observatory used the Abell 2744's cluster mass as a gravitational lens in order to magnify distant objects directly behind it.[5] At the time of discovery, it exceeded the distance record of QSO J0313−1806.[6]
The discovery of this object has led astronomers to suggest the seeds of the first quasars may have been direct-collapse black holes, from the collapse of supermassive primordial stars at the beginning of our universe.[2]