Supermassive black hole is most distant ever found, as Webb telescope "unlocks secrets" of far-away galaxy
Two teams of researchers studying a galaxy through NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have made multiple discoveries, including spotting the most distant active supermassive black hole ever found.
The teams were studying a galaxy known as GN-z11, an "exceptionally luminous" system that was formed when our 13.8 billion-year-old universe was only about 430 million years old, making it one of the youngest ever observed, NASA said in a news release. Scientists have been trying to find out what makes the distant galaxy so bright, and in doing so discovered the far-off black hole and a gas clump that could indicate rare stars.
The black hole was found by researchers from the Cavendish Laboratory and the Kavli Institute of Cosmology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom using the telescope's near-infrared camera. They determined the structure was a supermassive black hole, the largest type of black hole. It's the most distant black hole of this size ever seen.
The black hole is likely "vigorously" growing, NASA said. Robert Maiolino, one of the researchers on the team, told NASA that the structure is "gobbling matter" inside the galaxy. Researchers have also discovered the galaxy is expelling high-velocity winds, which are "typically driven by processes associated" with growing black holes. It's this growth and consumption of matter that is likely to be causing the galaxy's luminosity, NASA said.
The second team of researchers, again lead by Maiolino, used a near-infrared spectrograph on the telescope to find a clump of helium in the area surrounding the galaxy.
Because only helium was detectable, the clump is likely "fairly pristine," Maiolino said, and that means the pockets of pristine gas could collapse and form what's known as Population III star clusters. Those stars are formed entirely from hydrogen and helium, NASA said, and while they've never before been seen or photographed by researchers, finding them is "one of the most important goals of modern astrophysics." The stars are expected to be massive, luminous and very hot, NASA said.
Studies about the discoveries have been published in academic journals, and the researchers will continue to study the galaxy and try to learn more about the Population III stars, NASA said.