NASA announces: Oldest black hole discovered
Scientists have discovered the oldest black hole ever found, which formed 470 million years after the Big Bang, the event that created the universe.
AA
According to a written statement from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a research team of astronomers utilized data obtained from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory in their study.
Researchers have discovered the oldest black hole ever found, which formed just 470 million years after the "Big Bang."
According to data obtained from the James Webb Space Telescope, the discovered black hole is 13.2 billion light-years away from Earth.
NEW THEORIES MAY BE DEVELOPED
Researchers plan to use the study's findings to "fill in a bigger picture of the early universe."
It is believed that these findings could lead to the development of theories regarding how some of the first supermassive black holes in the universe were formed.
Dr. Andy Goulding of Princeton University, who contributed to the research, stated that there are physical limits to how fast black holes can grow once they are formed, but that those born larger have an advantage.
Yale University astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan described the discovery as the "best evidence yet" that some black holes form from massive gas clouds, noting that for the first time, they have observed a phase where a supermassive black hole is as heavy as the stars in its galaxy.
The research was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.