Three Supermassive Black Holes Found Actively Feeding in Distant Galaxy
Summary
Astronomers have found three supermassive black holes actively feeding inside a single distant galaxy, offering a rare look at black hole growth in the early universe. The discovery, made with the James Webb Space Telescope, suggests that black hole mergers may have played a bigger role than expected in their rapid growth.
Key Points
- Astronomers identified three actively feeding supermassive black holes inside galaxy J0148-4214, more than 12.5 billion light-years away.
- The discovery was led by an international team from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and used JWST spectro-astrometry.
- Two of the black holes sit just 620 light-years apart and are expected to merge within tens of millions of years.
- Researchers say the finding could help explain how supermassive black holes grew so quickly in the early universe.
