Astronomers discovered an object lurking in the dawn of the universe. They were surprised after realizing what was in store for them.
Earliest Supermassive Black Hole Discovered
The astronomers used data from James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to check on the object and realized that it was a supermassive black hole that is times the mass of the Sun. Additionally, it is still actively growing and slurps up everything around it, ScienceAlert reported.
The object was born 570 million years after the Big Bang. It is reportedly the earliest growing supermassive black hole detected in history. However, scientists hope to find more and find new record holders.
The black hole was found inside one of the earliest galaxies ever detected, previously known as EGSY8p7, which has since been renamed CEERS_1019. The astronomers hope the discovery will help them find answers to how black holes in the Cosmic Dawn could quickly grow to such large sizes.
Astrophysicist Rebecca Larson, who led the paper detailing the discovery, told ScienceAlert, that they just discovered the most distant active galactic nucleus (AGN) and earliest black hole ever found.
Larson first examined CEERS 1019 as part of her research into the light emitted by star formation in the early universe. The brightest of the Hubble galaxies from this era, CEERS 1019, was an obvious target when JWST arrived. They used the telescope to study the galaxy. They pointed all four of its instruments at the CEERS 1019 for one hour and received tons of information.
She was very impressed with JWST because it enabled them to see the whole portion of the galaxy's spectrum, including the galaxies early on in the universe. Then, she noticed a broad emission usually associated with AGN. She shared the details with AGN experts, and it was when things got more interesting.
Galaxy Emits Light From AGN and Star Formation
In the early universe, galaxies typically emit either light from an AGN or light from star formation. The presence of both in the same galaxy came as a complete surprise.
According to Larson, she was just as shocked as everyone. They observed some impact of the black hole on the emission lines. However, most of the light they saw in the photos was dominated by the galaxy's star-forming region. According to her, they debated the matter for weeks, and it turned out that the galaxy emits light from both sources.
Experts Hope to Find More Supermassive Black Holes
It is unsurprising to find an active supermassive black hole that existed more than 13.2 billion years ago. In the early universe, much larger black holes have been found, including J1342+0928, a quasar galaxy discovered 690 million years after the Big Bang containing a supermassive black hole of 800 million Suns in size. Another black hole was found in J0313-1806, born 670 million years after the Big Bang and was 1.6 billion times bigger than the Sun.
Larson said they still do not know how black holes in the said galaxies got so massive. However, what they discovered may be the progenitor or the item that gave rise to these tremendously large quasars.
Larson doesn't think her record will last for very long. And she sincerely hopes it doesn't because finding more supermassive black holes could mean finding answers to the intriguing queries they have in mind.
The research has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal.
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