Title: James Webb Space Telescope Discovers Ancient Galaxy Housing Unusually Small Black Hole
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CNN – The James Webb Space Telescope has made another remarkable discovery, as it detected an active supermassive black hole deeper into the universe than ever before. This groundbreaking find provides valuable insights into the early formation of celestial objects.
The supermassive black hole resides within CEERS 1019, an ancient galaxy believed to have formed 570 million years after the big bang, making it more than 13 billion years old. What baffled scientists the most was the surprisingly small size of the central black hole within this celestial object.
According to a NASA news release, the black hole has a mass of approximately 9 million solar masses. For reference, a solar mass is equivalent to the mass of our sun and is approximately 333,000 times larger than the Earth. This size is significantly smaller than other black holes detected in the early universe, which typically contain more than 1 billion times the mass of the Sun.
The James Webb Space Telescope’s ability to bring focus to such a dim and distant black hole is due to its highly sensitive instruments, enabling the detection of otherwise invisible light. Rebecca Larson, lead researcher and now a postdoctoral research associate at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Physics and Astronomy, noted that studying this distant object is similar to studying black holes in galaxies near our own.
In addition to the discovery of the remarkable black hole, researchers also identified two other nearby black holes that were formed around 1 billion years after the big bang. These cosmic objects also displayed lighter masses compared to their counterparts from that time period.
Furthermore, the Webb telescope’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey, led by the University of Texas at Austin, recorded the existence of eleven new galaxies. The findings from CEERS, which indicated these newly discovered galaxies are still generating new stars, hold the potential for significant scientific breakthroughs.
The small size of the black hole within CEERS 1019 remains a mystery for scientists, as it defies current understanding of how such objects formed in the early universe. Additionally, CEERS 1019 stands out for its unique characteristics, appearing as a string of three bright spots instead of the common disk-shaped formation typical of galaxies.
Jeyhan Kartaltepe, a member of the CEERS team at the Rochester Institute of Technology, suggested that a galaxy merger may be responsible for fueling the activity within CEERS 1019’s black hole, potentially leading to increased star formation.
Seiji Fujimoto, a NASA Hubble Fellow at UT Austin, expressed the significance of the Webb telescope’s findings, stating that they could potentially revolutionize our understanding of star formation and galaxy evolution throughout cosmic history.
The discovery of this distant and active supermassive black hole could be short-lived, as scientists within the astronomical community are currently analyzing data that may pinpoint even more distant black holes. NASA estimates that these discoveries could be unveiled within a few weeks, opening up new frontiers for exploration and understanding of the cosmos.
Indeed, with each new astronomical revelation, the James Webb Space Telescope continues to unveil the secrets of the universe, pushing the boundaries of our knowledge and stimulating further scientific inquiry.