LOS ANGELES, United States -- NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected the most distant active supermassive black hole to date, the agency said on Thursday.
Photo from NASA / MANILA BULLETIN
The galaxy, CEERS 1019, existed just over 570 million years after the big bang, and its black hole is less massive than any other yet identified in the early universe. Webb also identified 11 galaxies that existed when the universe was 470 to 675 million years old, according to NASA. The black hole within CEERS 1019 is more similar to the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, which is 4.6 million times the mass of the sun, said NASA. This black hole is also not as bright as the more massive behemoths previously detected. Though smaller, this black hole existed so much earlier that it is still difficult to explain how it formed so soon after the universe began, said NASA.
Photo from NASA / MANILA BULLETIN
The galaxy, CEERS 1019, existed just over 570 million years after the big bang, and its black hole is less massive than any other yet identified in the early universe. Webb also identified 11 galaxies that existed when the universe was 470 to 675 million years old, according to NASA. The black hole within CEERS 1019 is more similar to the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, which is 4.6 million times the mass of the sun, said NASA. This black hole is also not as bright as the more massive behemoths previously detected. Though smaller, this black hole existed so much earlier that it is still difficult to explain how it formed so soon after the universe began, said NASA.