astronomy

S5 0014+81

S5 0014+81 is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand S5 0014+81 rather than just read about it. In short: S5 0014+81 is a distant, compact, hyperluminous, broad-absorption-line quasar, or blazar, located near the high declination region of the constellation Cepheus, near the North Equatorial Pole. Characteristics The object is an OVV (optically violent variable) quasar, a type of blazar.

Key takeaways

S5 0014+81 belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect S5 0014+81 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of S5 0014+81 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

S5 0014+81 is a distant, compact, hyperluminous, broad-absorption-line quasar, or blazar, located near the high declination region of the constellation Cepheus, near the North Equatorial Pole.

Characteristics The object is an OVV (optically violent variable) quasar, a type of blazar. It belongs to the most energetic subclass of active galactic nuclei, which are produced by the rapid accretion of matter by a central supermassive black hole, changing gravitational energy to light energy that can be visible across cosmic distances. In the case of S5 0014+81, it is one of the most luminous quasars known, with a total luminosity of over 1041 watts, equal to an absolute bolometric magnitude of −31.5. If the quasar were at a distance of 280 light-years from Earth, it would give out as much energy per square meter as the Sun does at Earth, despite being 18 million times more distant. The quasar's luminosity is therefore about 3 × 1014 (300 trillion) times that of the Sun, or over 25,000 times as luminous as all the 100 to 400 billion stars of the Milky Way combined, making it one of the most energetic objects in the observable universe. However, because of its huge distance of 12.1 billion light-years it can only be studied by spectroscopy. The central black hole of the quasar devours an extremely huge amount of matter, equivalent to 4,000 solar masses of material every year. The quasar is also a very strong source of radiation, from gamma rays and X-rays down to radio waves. The quasar's designation, S5, is from the Fifth Survey of Strong Radio Sources, 0014+81 was its coordinates in epoch B1950.0. It also has the other designation 6C B0014+8120, from the Sixth Cambridge Survey of Radio Sources by the University of Cambridge. The host galaxy of S5 0014+81 is a giant elliptical starburst galaxy, with the apparent magnitude of 24.

Supermassive black hole

The host galaxy of S5 0014+81 is an FSRQ (flat-spectrum radio quasar) blazar, a giant elliptical galaxy that hosts a supermassive black hole at its center, which is emitting a relativistic jet in the general direction of the Earth. In 2009, a team of astronomers using the Swift spacecraft used the luminosity of S5 0014+81 to measure the mass of its black hole. They found it to be about 10,000 times more massive than the black hole at the center of our galaxy, or equivalent to 40 billion solar masses. This makes it one of the most massive black holes ever discovered, more than six times the value of the black hole of Messier 87, which for 60 years was the largest known black hole, and was dubbed an "ultramassive" black hole. The Schwarzschild radius of this black hole is 120 billion kilometers, giving a diameter of 240 billion kilometers, 1,600 astronomical units, or about 40 times the radius of Pluto's orbit, and has a mass equivalent to four Large Magellanic Clouds. The fact that such a large black hole existed so early in the universe, at only 1.6 billion years after the Big Bang, suggests that supermassive black holes can form very quickly. Evolution models based on the mass of S5 0014+81's supermassive black hole predict that it will live for roughly 1.3×1099 years (near the end of the Black Hole Era of the universe, when it is more than 1088 times its current age), before it dissipates via Hawking radiation.

Illustrations

S5 0014+81: The Swift spacecraft, used by astronomers to determine the mass of the black hole of S5 0014+81 — The Swift spacecraft, used by astronomers to determine the mass of the black hole of S5 0014+81

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with S5 0014+81

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what S5 0014+81 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to S5 0014+81 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about S5 0014+81 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of S5 0014+81

In research: S5 0014+81 appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses S5 0014+81 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: S5 0014+81 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Active galaxies, Cepheus (constellation), Quasars, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for S5 0014+81 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study S5 0014+81 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what S5 0014+81 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain S5 0014+81 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is S5 0014+81 in simple terms?

S5 0014+81 is a distant, compact, hyperluminous, broad-absorption-line quasar, or blazar, located near the high declination region of the constellation Cepheus, near the North Equatorial Pole. Characteristics The object is an OVV (optically violent variable) quasar, a type of blazar.

Why does S5 0014+81 matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study S5 0014+81?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on S5 0014+81.