One of the longstanding theories of astronomy is being challenged by the discoveries made by the James Webb Space Telescope; that is, that black holes form within their galaxies. According to a study published on May 27th in Nature, there is evidence of a supermassive black hole that was already existing when its galaxy had not yet formed, only 700 million years after the birth of the universe.
A Black Hole Heavier Than Its Own Galaxy
According to Space.com, the central focus of this finding is Abell2744-QSO1, one of a family of miniature relics of old age known as “little red dots,” initially found by the JWST telescope in 2022. By making use of the NIRSpec device on JWST, scientists were able to measure gas swirling around the object, like how gas moves around in orbit around a star; hence, a successful direct weighing of an ancient universe black hole was possible, weighing 50 million solar masses. In QSO1 alone, this lone black hole makes up 66% of its total mass, a factor of thousands greater than any modern-day galaxy.
Born Before the Stars
In the standard model, supermassive black holes grow from collapsed stellar remnants inside already-formed galaxies. But a black hole that outweighs most of its own galaxy’s stars cannot have followed that path. Researchers now believe QSO1’s black hole was “born big” — possibly from the direct collapse of a primordial gas cloud, or through an unknown process in the Big Bang’s first moments. With the galaxy still assembling around it, the team is now studying other Little Red Dots to determine whether this startling reversal of cosmic order is widely prevalent in the early universe.
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