‘Monstrous’ black hole discovered | Science

The black hole — unpronounceably nicknamed “GNz7q” — formed 750 million years after the Big Bang, and was discovered by analyzing data from the Hubble Telescope. It was in a much-explored area of ​​space, but had escaped the attention of scientists. However, Danish scientists noted that the compact source of ultraviolet light in the images could not be due to the presence of a galaxy. The theory that black holes in the first galaxies radiated ultraviolet light had been around for some time, but was only now being observed for the first time.

“Our analysis suggests that ‘GNz7q’ is the first example of a rapidly expanding black hole in the dusty core of a galaxy, shortly after the creation of the universe’s first supermassive black hole,” said astronomer Seiji Fujimoto of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. “The properties of this object are completely in line with predictions from theoretical simulations.”

This black hole could be the missing link between supermassive black holes and the early cores of galaxies from which they would have formed. “GNz7q provides a direct link between those two rare phenomena, providing a new way to understand the rapid growth of supermassive black holes in the early universe’s evolution,” Fujimoto said.