Webb Telescope Shows a Black Hole Breaking a Theoretical Limit
2024-11-13
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1Researchers have observed a large black hole that gained mass at a rate much faster than scientists had thought possible.
2New observations from the Webb telescope involve the largest kind of black hole, a supermassive black hole. It is called LID-568.
3Scientists say it existed when the universe was about 11 percent of its current age.
4Black holes are extremely dense objects with gravity so strong that not even light can escape.
5With their powerful gravitational pull, they grow in mass by taking in material such as gas, dust and stars that are nearby.
6A supermassive black hole about four million times the mass of the sun, called Sagittarius A*, is at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
7Supermassive black holes are believed to be at the center of most galaxies.
8Since NASA's James Webb Space Telescope started operating in 2022, researchers have been surprised to find supermassive black holes in the early universe.
9Researchers had believed that it takes a longer amount of time to gather such huge amounts of mass.
10New observations of one early black hole give information about how this growth took place.
11"The existence of supermassive black holes in the early universe challenges our current models of black hole formation and growth," said Hyewon Suh of the International Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and the U.S. National Science Foundation's NOIRLab.
12Suh was the lead writer of the study detailing the findings in the scientific publication Nature Astronomy.
13The supermassive black hole LID-568 existed about 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang.
14The Big Bang, the event that started the universe, took place around 13.8 billion years ago.
15LID-568 has a mass 10 million times greater than the sun, or two- and one-half times the mass of Sagittarius A*. The researchers do not yet know the mass of its home galaxy.
16The Webb telescope showed LID-568 gaining mass at a rate faster than scientists had thought possible.
17LID-568 appeared to be consuming infalling material - known as accretion - at more than 40 times the previously believed maximum for such activity.
18This maximum is known as the Eddington limit.
19Early black holes are thought to have started in one of two ways.
20They could have begun after the explosive death of the universe's first generation of stars or through the collapse of large clouds of gas present in the early universe.
21The discovery of LID-568 suggests that a lot of mass growth can take place during one time, or episode, of rapid accretion, Suh suggested.
22A good sign of a growing supermassive black hole is emission of X-rays, high-energy electromagnetic radiation with very short wavelengths.
23Material moving around a supermassive black hole is superheated and glows strongly in X-ray wavelengths before disappearing in the black hole.
24The researchers first spotted LID-568 using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
25They then studied it more closely with the Webb space telescope.
26The Webb observations suggest the existence of a faster way for black holes to take in material.
27Suh described LID-568 as "remarkable."
28She added, "We don't know yet how LID-568 is able to exceed the Eddington limit. To investigate further, we need more data, so we are planning to conduct follow-up observations with Webb."
29I'm John Russell.
1Researchers have observed a large black hole that gained mass at a rate much faster than scientists had thought possible. 2New observations from the Webb telescope involve the largest kind of black hole, a supermassive black hole. It is called LID-568. Scientists say it existed when the universe was about 11 percent of its current age. 3Background of a black hole 4Black holes are extremely dense objects with gravity so strong that not even light can escape. With their powerful gravitational pull, they grow in mass by taking in material such as gas, dust and stars that are nearby. 5A supermassive black hole about four million times the mass of the sun, called Sagittarius A*, is at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Supermassive black holes are believed to be at the center of most galaxies. 6Since NASA's James Webb Space Telescope started operating in 2022, researchers have been surprised to find supermassive black holes in the early universe. Researchers had believed that it takes a longer amount of time to gather such huge amounts of mass. 7New observations of one early black hole give information about how this growth took place. 8"The existence of supermassive black holes in the early universe challenges our current models of black hole formation and growth," said Hyewon Suh of the International Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and the U.S. National Science Foundation's NOIRLab. Suh was the lead writer of the study detailing the findings in the scientific publication Nature Astronomy. 9The supermassive black hole LID-568 existed about 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. The Big Bang, the event that started the universe, took place around 13.8 billion years ago. 10LID-568 has a mass 10 million times greater than the sun, or two- and one-half times the mass of Sagittarius A*. The researchers do not yet know the mass of its home galaxy. 11The Webb telescope showed LID-568 gaining mass at a rate faster than scientists had thought possible. LID-568 appeared to be consuming infalling material - known as accretion - at more than 40 times the previously believed maximum for such activity. 12This maximum is known as the Eddington limit. 13Exceeding the Eddington Limit 14Early black holes are thought to have started in one of two ways. They could have begun after the explosive death of the universe's first generation of stars or through the collapse of large clouds of gas present in the early universe. 15The discovery of LID-568 suggests that a lot of mass growth can take place during one time, or episode, of rapid accretion, Suh suggested. 16A good sign of a growing supermassive black hole is emission of X-rays, high-energy electromagnetic radiation with very short wavelengths. Material moving around a supermassive black hole is superheated and glows strongly in X-ray wavelengths before disappearing in the black hole. 17The researchers first spotted LID-568 using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. They then studied it more closely with the Webb space telescope. 18The Webb observations suggest the existence of a faster way for black holes to take in material. 19Suh described LID-568 as "remarkable." She added, "We don't know yet how LID-568 is able to exceed the Eddington limit. To investigate further, we need more data, so we are planning to conduct follow-up observations with Webb." 20I'm John Russell. 21Will Dunham reported on this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English. 22______________________________________________ 23Words in This Story 24supermassive - adj (describes black hole) the largest kind of black hole 25challenge - v. to dispute or question something 26consume -v. to take in, use up or eat 27infalling - adj. moving under the influence of gravity toward an object (such as a black hole) 28accretion - n. the process of growth or enlargement by a gradual buildup 29emission -n. the process of releasing or sending out radiation 30conduct -v. to carry out