Three Supermassive Black Holes Discovered In a Single Galaxy For the First Time
Astronomers using JWST have found three actively feeding supermassive black holes in the distant galaxy J0148-4214, seen as it existed about 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang. Two sit just 620 light-years apart near the galaxy's center and are expected to merge within a few hundred million years. Phys.org reports: Theories of galaxy evolution -- based on observations -- suggest that, early in…
Astronomers have discovered three supermassive black holes residing within a single galaxy, J0148-4214, dating back to a time mere 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang. The two most massive black holes, separated by a mere 620 light-years, are poised to merge within a few hundred million years. The largest of the trio, weighing in at approximately 80 million solar masses, is accreting at a rate lower than the other two, the second black hole boasting a mass of 0.6 million solar masses, which is actively feeding and surpassing the maximum accretion rate stipulated by established theories of black hole expansion.
The least massive black hole, at 2 million solar masses, has been identified off-center within the galaxy, potentially the remnant of a prior merger, displaced by a gravitational recoil kick, or currently in transit towards the galactic core. This discovery, enabled by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), not only spotlights the three black holes but also provides crucial insights into their masses, accretion rates, and the stellar mass of the galaxy, amounting to about 1.3 billion solar masses.
The central pair of black holes is forecasted to merge in the forthcoming few hundred million years. Experts suggest that the merging of black holes might serve as an accelerated pathway for their growth in the early universe. The study, authored by Dr. Giovanni Mazzolari of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and Professor Roberto Maiolino of the University of Cambridge, has been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
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