The James Webb Telescope has discovered the most distant black hole ever recorded

Researchers from NASA and other astronomical studies have been analyzing the galaxy GN-z11 for several years in search of a specific property: it is strangely luminous, much brighter than others investigated.

Since the Hubble Telescope, a space-observing instrument that preceded the James Webb Telescope (launched in 2021), its excessive light emission has already been arousing interest. The characteristics that were already known about it were that it was a galaxy that appeared about 430 million years after the Big Bang, the event that gave rise to our galaxy.

The GN-z11 comprises a large number of components, including hydrogen and helium. The presence of these and other elements makes scientists doubt the existence of a black hole there.

“We found very dense gas that is common in the vicinity of supermassive black holes that accumulate gas. This was “First clear signs that GN-z11 hosts a matter-devouring black hole.” NASA.

This new observation confirmed what they thought: inside the galaxy there is a massive black hole that attracts matter. It is the farthest of its kind ever recorded.

“The NIRCam (near infrared camera) webcam revealed an extended component, tracking the host galaxy, and a compact central source whose colors match those of the accretion disk surrounding the black hole,” researcher Hannah said. Opler too From Cavendish Laboratory and the Kavli Institute in a NASA statement.

Research on this galaxy will continue in the coming years to learn more details not only about its size and brightness, which we now know is due in part to the active black hole it hosts, but to learn more about how it originated.

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