2023-12-11 09:24:01
Astronomers Detect Signs of Oldest Ever Black Hole
Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery using the James Webb Space Telescope, revealing signs of the oldest black hole ever observed, dating back more than 13 billion years. This mystifying black hole is a million times the mass of the Sun, which is highly unusual for a small black hole, raising questions about how it could have grown so rapidly.
The existence of this massive black hole was found in the heart of a galaxy that arose just 440 million years after the big bang. Astrophysicist Roberto Maiolino, who led the observations, expressed his astonishment, stating, “The surprise is that it is very huge. This was the most unexpected thing.”
Scientists have discovered clear signs of its accretion disk, a halo of gas and dust rotating rapidly around the cosmic stream. Typically, black holes that are millions of times larger than the mass of the Sun are located in the middle of most large galaxies, such as our Milky Way.
The discovery of this ancient black hole has sparked new questions about the origins of black holes and how they grow. Scientists believe that older black holes could help solve the mystery of how their giant counterparts grow in the centers of galaxies like the Milky Way.
Recent observations have indicated that black holes were either born large, or inflated very quickly, early on. The James Webb Telescope has revealed the astonishing revelation that “some black holes grew at an enormous rate in the young universe, much faster than we expected.”
Several explanations have been proposed for the existence of this ancient and massive black hole. One possibility is that an early generation of black holes was born from the direct collapse of huge clouds of gas, rather than from burning stars that collapsed under their own gravity at the end of their lives. Another possibility is that compact clusters of stars and black holes merged very quickly in the early universe. The third hypothesis is the existence of so-called primordial black holes that came into existence during cosmic inflation, which occurred a fraction of a second after the big bang.
These new findings have shifted our understanding of the early universe and have profound implications for our understanding of how black holes and galaxies came together. The study of these ancient cosmic entities is just beginning, and scientists are eager to continue piecing together the story of the universe’s early days.
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