12.9 Billion-Year-Old Quasar Flickers by 20%, Signaling Rapid Early Black Hole Growth
Updated
Updated · Space.com · Jun 12
12.9 Billion-Year-Old Quasar Flickers by 20%, Signaling Rapid Early Black Hole Growth
3 articles · Updated · Space.com · Jun 12
Summary
A quasar seen just 900 million years after the Big Bang brightened and dimmed by about 20%—equal to 2 trillion suns' luminosity—the first such flickering detected in the early universe.
MIT-led astronomers traced the variability to changing gas flow into the black hole's accretion disk, using 14 years of archived NEOWISE infrared data to catch fluctuations stretched from days to months by cosmic redshift.
Temperature-linked changes across wavelengths suggest the gas had already settled into a flat, pancake-shaped disk rather than the puffier, chaotic structure expected around a still-young supermassive black hole.
That mature-looking disk supports a growing view that black holes went through their messiest, fastest growth phases even earlier, aligning with other evidence such as JWST's 'little red dots' that massive black holes formed quickly.
This ancient quasar was surprisingly mature. Does this rewrite the timeline for how the first monster black holes were born?
As the Roman Telescope prepares for launch, are we about to find the true 'seeds' of today's supermassive black holes?
Early Universe Surprise: J0439+1634’s Flickering Light Unveils Rapid Black Hole Formation
Overview
The discovery of J0439+1634, officially published in Nature Astronomy, marks a major step in understanding the early universe. This distant quasar’s dramatic flickering reveals a surprisingly mature and massive black hole, challenging current theories about how quickly such giants could form after the Big Bang. The observed variability points to a well-developed accretion disk, suggesting rapid black hole growth and efficient feeding mechanisms were present much earlier than expected. These findings prompt scientists to rethink how black holes and galaxies evolved together, and inspire new searches for even earlier cosmic giants using advanced telescopes.