Webb Telescope Detects Most Distant Active Supermassive Black Hole

July 6, 2023 • by Marc Airhart

At about 9 solar masses, this black hole is a real lightweight compared to previously seen ones in the early universe that are typically 1 billion solar masses.

A dense field of galaxies set against a black background of space

A zoomed-in view of images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope in near-infrared light for the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey. Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Steve Finkelstein (UT Austin), Micaela Bagley (UT Austin), Rebecca Larson (UT Austin).


This three-part image shows a red galaxy with three distinct clumps, a field of stars showing the location in which the red galaxy was discovered, and a graph showing the speed of gas within and around the galaxy

A team of researchers led by Steven Finkelstein and Rebecca Larson from The University of Texas at Austin have identified the most distant active supermassive black hole to date in the James Webb Space Telescope’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey. The black hole, within galaxy CEERS 1019, existed just over 570 million years after the big bang and is far less massive than other black holes previously found in the early universe. Illustration credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI).

Chart showing the mass and time since the big bang for three newly discovered galaxies and previously discovered black holes

This graphic shows detections of the most distant active supermassive black holes currently known in the universe. Three, including the most distant (within the galaxy CEERS 1019), were recently identified by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey. The new CEERS black holes are much smaller than any others detected before in the early universe. Illustration credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI).

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