JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE DISCOVERED A PAIR OF MERGING BLACK HOLES

Sat 18 May 2024:

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered signs of an ongoing merger between two galaxies and their massive black holes, dating back to when the universe was just 740 million years old. This represents the furthest detection of a black hole merger and the earliest observation of such an event in the universe’s history, according to the European Space Agency.

One of the black holes in this merger has a mass equivalent to 50 million times that of the sun. These colossal black holes likely influenced the development of their host galaxies. However, how these entities grew to such immense sizes remains unclear.

The presence of gigantic black holes within the first billion years after the Big Bang suggests a rapid and early growth process. The James Webb Space Telescope is now providing new insights into this early-stage growth of black holes.

Astronomers can detect these massive black holes by observing distinctive spectroscopic features associated with actively accreting matter. “We found evidence for very dense gas with fast motions near the black hole, as well as hot and highly ionized gas illuminated by the energetic radiation typically produced by black holes during their accretion episodes,” said lead author Hannah Ubler from the University of Cambridge in the UK.

The findings were published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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