ANTARIKSA — The saying is true, the deeper we dig into knowledge, the more aware we are of the shallowness of the knowledge we have. Progress in the field of space exploration in the last decade has provided many new understandings, as well as breaking old understandings regarding the universe.
Most recently, the old theory about the existence of black holes has been challenged by the presence of new sophisticated telescope technology. According to a new analysis of James Webb Space Telescope data, black holes not only existed at the beginning of time, but also gave birth to new stars and formed supercharged galaxies.
The finding upends theories about how black holes shape the cosmos. Challenging the classical understanding that black holes formed after the first stars and galaxies appeared.
In contrast, black holes likely dramatically accelerated the birth of new stars during the first 50 million years of the universe. Of course, that is a short period considering the history of the universe which has existed for 13.8 billion years.
Also Read: What is a Black Hole?
“We knew monster black holes existed at the center of galaxies near our Milky Way, but the big surprise now is that they also existed at the beginning of the universe and were almost like building blocks or seeds for early galaxies,” said Joseph Silk, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University and at the Institute of Astrophysics, Paris, Sorbonne University.
The lead author of the new discovery said that black holes are actually involved in all formation. It acts as a giant amplifier for such star formation. “So this could really shake up our understanding of how galaxies form,” said Silk. Silk and his colleagues’ work has been published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
A number of distant galaxies from the early universe observed through the Webb telescope appear much brighter than scientists expected. According to Silk, this reveals that the number of young stars and supermassive black holes is very large.
The old theory states that black holes formed after the collapse of supermassive stars and galaxies formed after the first stars illuminated the dark early universe. However, analysis by Silk’s team shows that black holes and galaxies coexisted and influenced each other’s fate for the first 100 million years.
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“If the entire history of the universe was a 12-month calendar, then (100 million years) it would be the first days of January,” Silk said.
Silk and his team concluded that the black hole’s outflow destroyed the gas cloud, turning it into stars and accelerating the rate of galaxy formation. “Otherwise, it is very difficult to understand where these bright galaxies came from because they were usually smaller in the early universe. Why can they produce stars so quickly?” he said.
Black holes are regions in space where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape its pull, not even light. Due to this power, they generate powerful magnetic fields that generate powerful storms, emit turbulent plasma and ultimately act like huge particle accelerators.
Also read: James Webb Telescope finds the oldest black hole devouring its galaxy
2024-02-12 21:56:00
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