JWST Weighs 6 Billion-Solar-Mass Black Hole 10 Billion Light-Years Away
Updated
Updated · Space.com · Jun 8
JWST Weighs 6 Billion-Solar-Mass Black Hole 10 Billion Light-Years Away
3 articles · Updated · Space.com · Jun 8
Summary
A dormant black hole in galaxy MRG-M0138 has been measured at 6 billion solar masses, making it the most distant supermassive black hole ever weighed.
JWST inferred that mass by tracking stars moving near the galaxy’s core, extending the stellar-dynamics method from a previous distance record of 700 million light-years to about 10 billion.
A foreground galaxy’s gravitational lensing magnified MRG-M0138 by 30 times, letting researchers resolve the black hole’s sphere of influence when the universe was only about 4 billion years old.
The team also found MRG-M0138 is no longer forming stars, supporting the idea that an earlier quasar phase blew out gas and linked black-hole growth to galaxy shutdown.
Is decaying dark matter the secret ingredient for building the universe's first monster black holes?
Did giant black holes exist before the first galaxies, completely rewriting cosmic history?
Are giant black holes the universe's architects or its ultimate destroyers?
JWST and Gravitational Lensing Enable First Direct Mass Measurement of Dormant Black Hole in Ancient Galaxy
Overview
Astronomers, led by Andrew Newman, have directly measured the mass of a dormant supermassive black hole in the early universe for the first time. Using the James Webb Space Telescope and gravitational lensing, they studied the black hole in galaxy MRG-M0138, which is no longer forming new stars. This breakthrough reveals a strong link between the black hole’s past activity and the galaxy’s current quiet state. Scientists believe the galaxy once hosted a luminous quasar, whose energy likely stopped star formation, offering new insights into how black holes shape the evolution of their host galaxies.