Astronomers are puzzled by the oldest black hole ever seen in the Universe
Kyiv • UNN
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have discovered an ancient black hole at the center of the galaxy GN-z11, located about 13.4 billion light-years away. The observed size of the black hole is puzzling because it is too large for its age, suggesting that early black holes may be growing faster than is thought.
There is an incredibly ancient black hole that is challenging astronomers to explain how it could have existed just 400 million years after the Big Bang, writes UNN citing Phys.org.
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This is the heart of a galaxy called GN-z11. Astronomers using JWST have seen evidence that it is engulfing this galaxy, which is one way a black hole can grow.
According to JWST observations, GN-z11 is about 13.4 billion light-years away and about 100 times smaller than the Milky Way galaxy. However, it has a very bright nucleus, which tells us that it has a black hole at its heart.
A team of astronomers led by University of Cambridge professor Roberto Maiolino used observations of JWST to study the movement of material in the galaxy. Their study is published in the journal Nature. The discovery of such a black hole early in cosmic history is a giant leap forward, he said. "It's very early in the universe to observe such a huge black hole, so we need to look at other ways of forming them," Maiolino said. - Very early galaxies were extremely rich in gas, so they were a kind of buffer for black holes.
JWST observations show this black hole at a time when the universe was not even a billion years old, and it would take almost a billion years to accumulate that much mass. So, something doesn't add up, and perhaps early black holes grew faster than astronomers assume.
Perhaps there's another way a black hole can grow so fast. The clue lies in its enormous appetite. Very early galaxies like this one contain plenty of material for star formation. However, this also provides food for black holes. As it turns out, the black hole GN-z11 devours matter much faster than other black holes in its galaxies in more modern times. This is good for black hole growth, but not so good if the galaxy wants to create more stars.
Since stars are what galaxies produce, being devoured by a black hole can actually "kill" a galaxy. The bad news (at least for the black hole) is that its appetite will lead to its demise as it runs out of material to devour.
It is stated that future observations using JWST (and future telescopes) should reveal evidence for the existence of black hole "seeds". Studying the "seeds" of black holes should give Maiolino and other astronomers more clues to unraveling the story of how these objects formed shortly after the Big Bang.
