Webb reveals oxygen-rich dust and water surviving near Milky Way's central black hole
Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers has discovered that dust and water can form and survive surprisingly close to the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The observations reveal that the evolved star IRS 3 continues to enrich its surroundings with newly formed material despite the intense radiation environment around…
Scientists have discovered the closest pair of black holes ever observed, formed just 1.3 billion years after the Big Bang. Known as LID-1166, these two monstrous black holes are separated by only about 4,900 light-years inside a merging galaxy. Using the James Webb Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, researchers detected the pair's unique X-ray and infrared signatures, revealing the feeding activity of the black holes.
This close proximity provides the first clear view of a critical phase in the growth of supermassive black holes, offering crucial insights into the formation and evolution of large galaxies. The discovery highlights the powerful capabilities of the JWST, particularly its Near-Infrared Spectograph instrument, which allowed astronomers to confirm the existence of these two separate black holes within the merging system.
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