KOMPAS.com – Astronomers have identified the most distant supermassive black hole ever observed. This finding was aided by a “cosmic magnifying glass” or gravitational lensing.
The black hole is located in the UHZ1 galaxy, in the direction of the Abell 2744 galaxy cluster. This galaxy cluster is known to be around 13.2 billion years old.
The research team used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope to find signs of growing black holes.
This most distant black hole began to form 470 million years after the big bang, when the universe was only 3 percent of its current age, which is around 13.7 billion years.
Astronomers can tell that this black hole is very young because of its enormous size, and given that black holes evaporate over time.
Also read: How Do Black Holes Die?
Most black holes at the center of galaxies have masses equivalent to one-tenth of the stars in their host galaxies.
Meanwhile, this black hole grows and has a mass equivalent to the entire Milky Way galaxy.
Astronomers have never witnessed a black hole at this stage before and studying it could help explain how some of the first supermassive black holes in the universe formed.
Discovery of the most distant black hole
Apart from using Webb and Chandra, researchers also utilized a cosmic magnifying glass, which increases the amount of light detected, to find the black hole. This magnification effect is known as gravitational lensing.
The team carried out x-ray observations with Chandra for two weeks. They saw extremely hot X-rays emitting gas, typical of supermassive black holes, from the galaxy.
Also read: What Happens If Objects Get Too Close to a Black Hole?
Light coming from galaxies and X-rays from gas around supermassive black holes are magnified by hot gas and dark matter coming from galaxy clusters.
This effect is like a “cosmic magnifying glass” that amplifies infrared light signals so that Webb can detect them and allows Chandra to see faint X-ray sources.
The team plans to use this data and more data obtained from Webb and other space telescopes to create a better picture of the early universe.
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2023-11-11 08:00:00
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