International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Marenfeld
Pōniuāʻena, the second most distant quasar ever discovered
An artist’s impression of the quasar Pōniuāʻena. Astronomers discovered this, the second most distant quasar ever found, using the international Gemini Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), Programs of NSF NOIRLab. It is the first quasar to receive an indigenous Hawaiian name. In honor of its discovery from Maunakea, a sacred mountain revered in the Hawaiian culture, the quasar J1007+2115 was given the Hawaiian name Pōniuāʻena, meaning “unseen spinning source of creation, surrounded with brilliance” in the Hawaiian language.
