An international group of astronomers studied a young radio source with a large red displacement designated by J2102 + 6015 to explain his mysterious nature. The results of the study are published in the preprint of articles published in the repository ARXIV.
Red offset is a method of measuring the distance to a space object using the Hubble law, according to which the more distance to the object, the faster it is removed from the observer. When the object is removed, the radiation emitted by them increases the wavelength relative to the observer, while the spectral lines are shifted toward the red spectrum. J2102 + 6015 red displacement is 4.57, which makes it one of the most remote objects in the observed universe. It corresponds to the time of traveling light from the source to Earth 12.3 billion years and a radial distance (takes into account the Hubble law) about 25 billion light years.
Such a huge distance indicates that J2102 + 6015 may be a powerful radiowasar. Observations using a radio interferometer showed that the object has a very compact structure at a frequency of 2.3 gigahertz (GHz), and at a frequency of 8.6 GHz, the source was divided into three components extending along the East-West direction, and an additional weak component to the west of the region peak radiation.
In a new study of astronomers studied the morphology of the radio signal, the distribution of the spectral index (dependence of the radiation flux from the radiation frequency) and the component movement. It turned out that J2102 6015 consists of a compact bright eastern component and a weaker western component. Astronomers suggest that a weak component can be an active galaxy kernel or a node in a relativistic jet emitted by a black hole.
In general, astronomers came to the conclusion that J2102 + 6015 is likely to be a compact symmetrical object (CSO), the radio energous active core of the galaxy with a two-flexible structure stretching about 3,300 light years. At the same time, it is not a blazar (quasars with a jet observer), as previously thought.