A groundbreaking discovery made by a team of astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed a low-mass supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy, only 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. The black hole, located in the galaxy LID-568, is consuming matter at an extraordinary rate — more than 40 times the theoretical maximum. This remarkable feat challenges existing theories and could help explain how supermassive black holes grew so rapidly in the early Universe.
Supermassive black holes, which exist at the heart of most galaxies, are typically thought to grow slowly over billions of years. However, astronomers have struggled to explain how these black holes became so massive in the Universe’s infancy. The discovery of LID-568’s black hole, with its rapid accretion, offers new insights into this phenomenon.
LID-568 was first identified through observations made by JWST in collaboration with Chandra’s COSMOS legacy survey. The galaxy emits intense X-rays but remains invisible in optical and near-infrared wavelengths, areas where most traditional telescopes operate. JWST’s infrared sensitivity allowed astronomers to detect this elusive galaxy and its highly active black hole, which is believed to be feeding at an astonishing pace.
The black hole in LID-568 is absorbing material at a rate far exceeding the Eddington limit, a fundamental threshold that describes the maximum speed at which a black hole can consume matter while maintaining equilibrium between the inward gravitational force and outward radiation pressure. This extreme feeding frenzy suggests that the black hole could have undergone rapid growth in a single accretion event, providing a key piece of the puzzle in understanding how supermassive black holes form and grow.
The findings shed new light on the formation of these cosmic giants. Current theories suggest that supermassive black holes may have originated from smaller “seed” black holes formed either from the collapse of the Universe’s first stars or from the direct collapse of gas clouds. Until now, these theories lacked concrete observational evidence. The discovery of LID-568 provides much-needed confirmation and may help astronomers refine their models of black hole evolution.
The results of this study, titled *”A super-Eddington-accreting black hole ~1.5 Gyr after the Big Bang observed with JWST,”* were published in *Nature Astronomy* and mark a significant milestone in our understanding of early Universe black hole growth.
The accompanying illustration features the galaxy LID-568, depicted as a vibrant red cloud flecked with stars. The galaxy’s central region is bright white, indicating a dense concentration of stars. Superimposed on the galaxy is an illustration of the central black hole, shown as a swirl of red and white matter, reminiscent of water spiraling around a drain. A bright white jet of particles shoots upward from the black hole, indicating the intense outflows associated with its rapid accretion.
The team of astronomers behind this discovery includes Hyewon Suh, Julia Scharwächter, Emanuele Paolo Farina, and others from institutions around the world, with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center managing the Chandra program and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory overseeing Chandra’s operations. As astronomers continue to study LID-568 and similar galaxies, these findings may lead to a deeper understanding of how supermassive black holes formed so early in the history of the Universe.
