Artist’s Impression of Fastest-feeding Black Hole in the Early Universe (IMAGE)

Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)

Artist’s Impression of Fastest-feeding Black Hole in the Early Universe

Caption

This artist’s illustration shows a red, early-Universe dwarf galaxy that hosts a rapidly feeding black hole at its center. Using data from NASA’s JWST and Chandra X-ray Observatory, a team of U.S. National Science Foundation NOIRLab astronomers have discovered this low-mass black hole at the center of a galaxy just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. It is accreting matter at a phenomenal rate — over 40 times the theoretical limit. While short lived, this black hole’s ‘feast’ could help astronomers explain how supermassive black holes grew so quickly in the early Universe.

Credit

NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/M. Zamani

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License

CC BY

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