Inspenet, July 7, 2023.
The James Webb Telescope has discovered the most distant active supermassive black hole known so far in the galaxy CEERS 1019.
This finding has been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters article, which also details two other black holes and eleven galaxies. These formed when the universe was between 470 and 675 million years old.
The data comes from the CEERS (Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey) project, led by Steven Finkelstein of the University of Texas at Austin.
“Until now, research on objects in the early universe was mainly based on theory, but with the Webb telescope, we can see black holes and galaxies at extreme distances and begin to measure them precisely. This shows the enormous power of this telescope.” Finkelstein points out.
The science team notes that the CEERS 1019 galaxy is notable not only for its age, but also for the relatively low weight of its black hole, which is around 9 million times the mass of the Sun. This is much less than others that existed in the early universe and that were detected by other telescopes, according to a statement from the University of Texas.
The James Webb continues its explorations
These giants are typically more than a billion times the mass of the sun and are easier to spot because of their intense brightness. However, it is more like the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, which is 4.6 million times the mass of the sun.
The team was not only able to distinguish the spectral emissions coming from the black hole and the host galaxy, but was also able to determine how much gas it is consuming and establish the star formation rate of the galaxy.
This galaxy was observed to be absorbing as much gas as possible while simultaneously producing new stars. “Galaxy mergers could be partly responsible for driving activity in this galaxy’s black hole, which could also result in increased star formation,” says Jeyhan Kartaltepe, a CEERS team member and Rochester Institute of Technology. In New York.
CEERS 1019 and other galaxies
As for the other two black holes, one is in the galaxy CEERS 2782, which existed only 1.1 billion years after the Big Bang, and the other is in CEERS 746, which formed a little earlier.
Like the one in CEERS 1019, these two black holes are also “low mass” compared to the supermassive ones known so far at these distances. They are only about 10 million times the mass of the sun.
In addition, the researchers identified 11 galaxies that formed between 470 and 675 million years after the Big Bang, all of which are undergoing rapid star formation but are not yet as chemically enriched as galaxies closest to us.
“This set, along with other distant galaxies we identify in the future, could change our understanding of star formation and galaxy evolution throughout cosmic history,” concludes Seiji Fujimoto of the University of Texas.
Source and photo: https://www.elnacional.com/ciencia-tecnologia/telescopio-james-webb-agujero-negro-supermasivo/
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