Record black hole merger observed

the James Webb Space Telescope Break a record: Discover the most distant black hole merger ever documented.

Black holes have gravitational fields so strong that they can swallow even light. When two black holes merge, they become one mass. The merger now documented occurred in a universe that is still very young, at least 740 million years old. Astronomers have never seen such an event in such a place before Young universe We can notice.

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The event was originally recorded in May 2023 with NIRSepc IFU Tool From the Webb telescope. The system of galaxies in which the objects merged was named “ZS7”. Such phenomena are usually not visible to our ground-based telescopes.

Black holes also grow in small galaxies

“Our results suggest that mergers are one way black holes can grow rapidly, even at cosmic dawn,” he said. Astronomer Hannah Opler In the ESA announcement. She researched this at the University of Cambridge and is the lead author of the published study. “Along with other findings from the Webb Telescope about active, massive black holes in the distant universe, our results also show that Massive black holes It has shaped the evolution of galaxies from the beginning.

Because of optics Because the Webb telescope is so good, the researchers were able to see the two black holes spatially separate and thus see some important black holes. Physical properties Explore them. It has one of two slots 50 million times the mass of our sun. The second of one Gas cloud Disappeared.

With new telescopes and better technology, researchers want to learn more about black holes in distant galaxies in the coming years. Astronomers believe they will then be able to observe such phenomena more often in the distant universe.