Yoshii and colleagues think they’ve found a
new standard candle: active galactic nuclei (AGN). These supermassive black holes at the centers of distant galaxies gobble down gas at furious rates. The gas heats up and shines brightly in the process, often outshining its host galaxy.
Since AGN are 10 to 100 times brighter than Type 1a supernovae, they could probe much larger distances, marking a giant leap in the cosmic distance ladder.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/commu...252950301.html
