Why JWST's discovery of most-distant black hole is puzzling scientists
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has spotted the most distant active supermassive black hole known to humans. Interestingly, the galaxy that hosts this black hole, called CEERS 1019, came into being just 570 million years after the Big Bang, which is quite early in the history of the universe. The latest discovery, however, has scientists puzzled. Let's find out why.
Why does this story matter?
Black holes are pretty mysterious. This in part is because they are not directly observable to astronomers. They are studied based on the gravitational influence they exert on their surrounding visible cosmic objects, like stars and galaxies. Notably, Webb, which is touted to be the most powerful space telescope, allows astronomers to these cosmic bodies in great detail.
The black hole weighs 9 million times our Sun's mass
The newly identified supermassive black hole residing at the heart of the CEERS 1019 galaxy has evoked interest not just for its age, but also because of its low mass. The black hole measures about nine million solar masses, or nine million times heavier than the Sun. It is less massive than any other black hole found in the early universe, as yet.
Early universe's black holes usually weigh 1 billion solar masses
For reference, most supermassive black holes that existed in the early universe weigh more than one billion times the mass of the Sun. Since such black holes are actively devouring their surrounding matter, they are brighter and easier to detect.
'It's difficult to explain how the black hole formed'
Why the newly discovered black hole within CEERS 1019 weighs relatively lesser than its counterparts is something astronomers are not certain about. According to NASA, "it's still difficult to explain how it [black hole] formed so soon after the universe began." This black hole is not as bright as the ones previously detected by other telescopes in the early universe.
Webb allows astronomers to study black holes in better detail
Scientists have known for a long time that smaller black holes could have existed earlier in the universe. However, thanks to Webb, they are now able to make "definitive detections." Astronomers are also looking for other distant black holes in Webb's data, meaning there's a possibility CEERS 1019 may lose its record of holding the farthest black hole known to us.
CEERS 1019 galaxy is also actively producing stars
Astronomers also made another interesting observation about CEERS 1019 from Webb's data. The galaxy was found to be actively producing new stars. Astronomers think the star formation could be due to the result of a merger, between CEERS 1019 and another galaxy. The merging galaxies are also believed to fuel the activity of CEERS 1019's black hole, feeding it with dust and other matter.
'Research about objects in the early universe was largely theoretical'
"Until now, research about objects in the early universe was largely theoretical," said Steven Finkelstein, an astronomer from the University of Texas at Austin, who led the survey responsible for this discovery. "With Webb, not only can we see black holes and galaxies at extreme distances, we can now start to accurately measure them." "That's the tremendous power of this telescope."
