Using the observational data from the 2.4-m Lijiang Telescope (LJT) in Yunnan China, the 6.5-m Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT), and the 8.4-m Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in Arizona, USA, the 6.5m Magellan Telescope in Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, and the 8.2-m Gemini North Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, USA, an international team led by Prof. Xue-Bing Wu at Peking University discovered a new quasar, with its central black hole mass of 12 billion solar masses and the luminosity of 420 trillion solar luminosity, at a distance of 12.8 billions light years from the earth. This is the brightest quasar ever discovered in the early Universe, powered by the most massive black hole yet known at that time. The discovery of this quasar, named SDSS J0100+2802, marks an important step in understanding how quasars, the most powerful objects in the universe, have evolved from the earliest epoch, only nine hundred million years after the Big Bang.

This research result has been published in the top scientific journal“Nature”on Feb. 26, 2015. In this work, the fifth author Wenwen Zuo, an assistant research scientist from Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, carried out some spectra analysis and estimated the luminosity and black hole mass of this quasar. Many international news media have broadcasted this work, including CNN, Washington Post, National Geographic, Reuters, Times Magazine, Discovery, LA times, China Daily, Xinhua Net and ifeng, and so on.

Figure 1: An artist’s image of a quasar with a supermassive black hole in the distant Universe (credits: Zhaoyu Li. The background images are from NASA/JPL-Caltech and Misti Mountain Observatory)

Figure 2: The newly discovered quasar SDSS J0100+2802 is the one with the most massive black hole and the highest luminosity among all known distant quasars (Credits: Zhaoyu Li/Yunnan Observatory. The background photo, provided by Yunnan Observatory, shows the dome of the 2.4meter telescope and the sky over it)

Following attachments are lists of some media news.

1：CNN：Scientists discover black hole 12 billion times bigger than the sun

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/26/intl_world/space-black-hole/index.html

2：Reuters：Astronomers find giant black hole in early universe

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/25/us-space-blackhole-idUSKBN0LT27820150225

3：Time Magazine：Scientists Find a Black Hole 12 Billion Times More Massive Than the Sun

http://time.com/3723482/black-hole-massive-sun-peking-university/

4. China Daily：中国科学家发现宇宙最亮星体 比太阳亮430万亿倍

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqgj/jryw/2015-02-26/content_13280745.html

5. Xinhua Net：中国科学家发现遥远宇宙最亮黑洞质量最大类星体

http://news.xinhuanet.com/tech/2015-02/26/c_1114440354.htm