Astronomers, using NASA telescopes, have discovered the most distant black hole ever seen (in X-rays). It’s surprisingly big. Moreover, it is so large that it seems to have devoured the entire galaxy.
The farthest black hole was discovered in a galaxy called UHZ1, which is located towards the galaxy cluster Abell 2744, 3.5 billion light-years away. However, data from the James Webb Space Telescope, which performs infrared observations, revealed that the UHZ1 galaxy is much farther away than the Abell Cluster, 13.2 billion light-years from Earth. This means that we see it as it was 470 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only 3 percent. His current age.
Then over two weeks of observations telescope Chandra’s X-rays showed the presence of very hot gases that emit X-rays in this galaxy, and this is a clear sign of the presence of a supermassive black hole in this place. Light from the galaxy and X-rays from the gas surrounding its supermassive black hole are amplified nearly fourfold by intermediate matter in Abell 2744. This phenomenon is called gravitational lensing.
It was this phenomenon that enabled Chandra to discover a faint source of X-rays. An article was recently published about this discovery published In the journal Nature Astronomy.
We needed the James Webb Space Telescope to find this very distant galaxy and the Chandra telescope to find its supermassive black hole.
– said Akos Bogdan of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), who led the research that led to the discovery of the new black hole.
This discovery is important for understanding how some supermassive black holes can reach such massive masses so soon after the Big Bang. Are they formed directly by the collapse of massive gas clouds, creating massive black holes with masses ranging from about 10,000 to 100,000 suns? Or perhaps it comes from the explosions of the first stars, giving rise to black holes with masses ranging from only 10 to 100 suns?
You can read more about the secrets of black holes on the spider’s web:
A theory confirmed by observations
A team of scientists has found strong evidence that the newly discovered black hole was indeed massive. Based on the brightness and energy of the X-rays, the researchers estimated their mass to be in the range – watch out! – From 10 to 100 million suns. The mass of the black hole at such a young age, the amount of X-rays it produces, and the brightness of the galaxy Webb discovered are all also consistent with 2017 theoretical predictions that black holes would form directly as a result of the collapse. From a huge cloud of gas.
We believe this is the first detection of a large black hole and the best evidence yet that some black holes form from massive clouds of gas.
– Write scientists.
Scientists plan to use these and other Webb results and combine data from other telescopes to understand the bigger picture of the early universe.
What is a black hole?
A black hole is a region in space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. At the center of the black hole there is a point of infinite density, called the singularity, and around it is the event horizon, that is, the limit beyond which there is no return. Black holes can absorb matter and energy from their surroundings, causing them to grow.
What is a supermassive black hole?
A supermassive black hole is a black hole whose mass is millions or billions of times greater than the mass of the Sun. Supermassive black holes are found at the center of most galaxies, including our own Milky Way. It’s not known exactly how supermassive black holes formed, but they are essential to the evolution of galaxies and everything else. Supermassive black holes emit huge amounts of radiation, especially in the X-ray range, allowing them to be detected with special telescopes.
