A recent study suggests that black holes may have contributed to accelerating the birth of new stars during the first 50 million years of the universe
Illustration of the magnetic field generated by a supermassive black hole in the early universe
ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERTO MOLAR CANDANOSA / JHU Enlarge image Astronomers believe that black holes formed after the collapse of massive stars, and that galaxies that formed after the first stars illuminated the dark early universe.
but study A recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters stated that “black holes existed at the beginning of the universe and served as building blocks or seeds for early galaxies.”
The researchers analyzed data observed by the James Webb Space Telescope over the past two years and explained that “black holes may have contributed significantly to accelerating the birth of new stars during the first 50 million years of the universe, a fleeting period in the universe’s 13.8 billion year history.”
He explained Joseph Silk – Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University, and leader of the research team – observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope take us further back than previous telescopes such as Hubble.
Silk added in statements to Nature Middle East that the James Webb Space Telescope operates in the infrared frequency range, and given that light shifts toward the red color the deeper we go into the universe, these operations have revealed the secrets of the smallest galaxies in the era of their birth, i.e. Only 100 million years after the Big Bang.
The distant galaxies observed appeared brighter than scientists had expected, and revealed large numbers of young stars and massive black holes. “We believe that the early universe went through two phases: in the first, high-speed jets from black holes accelerated the process of star formation, while in the second, this process slowed down.” flows, resulting in less gas available for star formation,” according to Silk.
The researchers believe that “observations conducted by the James Webb Space Telescope, and the subsequent discovery of more precise numbers of stars and supermassive black holes in the early universe, will help collect more evidence about the evolution of the universe.”
