A Fast-Growing Black Hole Was Discovered For The First Time In The Early Universe

The unusual, unique phenomenon was seen using the James Webb telescope. Scientists suggest that this supermassive black hole appeared 700 million years after the Big Bang. It is located in the perimeter of the galaxy cluster Abell 2744.

The analysis showed that this is the same quasar – the active center of the galaxy or an actively feeding supermassive black hole, which, thanks to the effect of gravitational microlensing, was displayed simultaneously in three places in the sky. Using the Webb spectrometer, as well as the ALMA radio telescope and the Chandra X-ray telescope, a group of astronomers carefully studied this object and came to far-reaching conclusions.

Measurements and modeling have shown that the quasar is too heavy for such an average object. Its mass reaches 3% of the mass of the host galaxy, while in the Universe around us the mass of quasars is usually 0.1% of the mass of galaxies. The discovery of such a massive and actively feeding object, as indicated by its red color, and so early after the Big Bang, suggests that scientists have stumbled upon the missing transition link between the embryo of a supermassive black hole and a bright quasar.

Now scientists cannot understand how such black holes manage to gain so much mass in a short period of time. In the future, the answer to this question will shed light on the processes that occurred at the birth of our Universe.