UHZ1

UHZ1
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationSculptor
Right ascension00h 14m 16.096s
Declination−30° 22 40.285
Redshift10.1
Distance13.2 Gly (4.047 Gpc) (light travel distance)
31.7 Gly (9.719 Gpc) (comoving distance)
Characteristics
Size21,000 ly (in diameter)

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. This redshift made it the most distant, and therefore earliest known quasar in the observable universe as of 2023. 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. At the time of discovery, it exceeded the distance record of QSO J0313−1806.

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 masses of matter at the beginning of our universe.