SPHEREx Confirms 77 Reddened Quasars, More Than Doubling High-Redshift Sample
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · May 25
SPHEREx Confirms 77 Reddened Quasars, More Than Doubling High-Redshift Sample
3 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · May 25
SPHEREx identified 77 new heavily reddened quasars at redshifts 1.5 to 3.9, including the first seven confirmed beyond redshift 3, sharply expanding a rare class of dust-obscured black hole systems.
Infrared all-sky spectrophotometry made the jump possible because these quasars are often missed in optical surveys, where dust suppresses the visible and ultraviolet light used to find them.
The new sample shows weaker mid-infrared emission and less hot dust than comparable blue quasars, supporting the idea that many are in a short-lived blow-out phase clearing material around the central black hole.
Ultraviolet excess appeared in 50 of 66 objects with enough coverage, pointing either to scattered quasar light through patchy dust or to ongoing star formation in the host galaxy.
The enlarged catalog gives astronomers a population-scale view of hidden black hole growth during cosmic noon and sets up JWST and Roman follow-up to test how feedback reshapes galaxies.
What other cosmic monsters will AI uncover in SPHEREx's all-sky data?
How much of the universe's history was hidden before SPHEREx's infrared view?
Are these 'cosmic noon' black holes galaxy builders or destroyers?
77 New Heavily Reddened Quasars Confirmed by SPHEREx: A Breakthrough in Cosmic Evolution Research
Overview
The SPHEREx mission has made a major breakthrough in astrophysics by more than doubling the number of confirmed high-redshift, heavily reddened quasars. This discovery is crucial because these quasars represent a key, previously overlooked phase in the life cycle of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies. By expanding the known population of these objects, SPHEREx fills important gaps in our understanding of how black holes and galaxies evolve together, especially during the dynamic 'cosmic noon' period. This new data allows scientists to better explore the complex changes and regulation happening between black holes and their galaxies.