Three black holes discovered in a young galaxy for the first time

Three black holes discovered in a young galaxy for the first time. Three massive black holes have been found in a galaxy that existed during the earliest times of the universe

O que aconteceu

A map of the distant galaxy, showing the locations of the three massive black holes, indicated by black circles (not to scale).

The most massive and least massive black holes are located in the galaxy centre, and a third black hole is in the galaxy outskirtsHannah Übler Three massive black holes have been discovered in a galaxy located in the early universe, 12.5 billion light years away.

This has left astronomers surprised that such a complex system could have formed so soon after the big bang.

Por que importa

Os números em evidência (12.5 bi, 1.2 bi) ajudam a medir o impacto no dia a dia de empresas e leitores de Ciência.

Consequência prática

“This system is in the very, very early universe,” says Dougal Dobie at the University of Sydney, who wasn’t involved in the discovery.

“So, how have we ended up in a situation where these three supermassive black holes have formed and come close together in only a billion years or so since the big bang?” Read more The once-impossible black holes that could break thermodynamics In December 2024, Hannah Übler at the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany and her colleagues were observing a galaxy known as J0148-4214 through the James Webb Space Telescope when they saw something strange.

Advertisement if( window?.adverts?.addToArray ) { window.adverts.addToArray( { "pos": "mid-article-slot" } ); } At 12.5 billion light years’ distance, the team observed the galaxy as it looked around 1.2 billion years after the big bang, says Übler.

“We [also] quickly noticed that the central emission profile of the galaxy had a peculiar shape,” she says.

A map of the distant galaxy, showing the locations of the three massive black holes, indicated by black circles (not to scale). Com base em 12.5 bi, o movimento reforça a leitura de que decisões em Ciência precisam ser acompanhadas com atenção aos dados e ao desfecho concreto.

The most massive and least massive black holes are located in the galaxy centre, and a third black hole is in the galaxy outskirtsHannah Übler Three massive black holes have been discovered in a galaxy located in the early universe, 12.5 billion light years away. Com base em 12.5 bi, o movimento reforça a leitura de que decisões em Ciência precisam ser acompanhadas com atenção aos dados e ao desfecho concreto.

This has left astronomers surprised that such a complex system could have formed so soon after the big bang. Com base em 12.5 bi, o movimento reforça a leitura de que decisões em Ciência precisam ser acompanhadas com atenção aos dados e ao desfecho concreto.

“This system is in the very, very early universe,” says Dougal Dobie at the University of Sydney, who wasn’t involved in the discovery. Com base em 12.5 bi, o movimento reforça a leitura de que decisões em Ciência precisam ser acompanhadas com atenção aos dados e ao desfecho concreto.