Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have identified the earliest known black hole in the universe, dating back over 13 billion years. The discovery was made just 500 million years after the Big Bang and is located in a small galaxy called CAPERS-LRD-z9. This “Little Red Dot” is unusual because it emits red light when observed with the telescope’s infrared sensors, suggesting it may contain many stars despite being unlikely to have formed that way.
The team used the James Webb Space Telescope to investigate the galaxy, finding a distinct pattern of light wavelengths created by fast-moving gas falling into the black hole. This pattern confirms the presence of a black hole and suggests that they might be at the center of other Little Red Dots.
The black hole at CAPERS-LRD-z9 is massive, with an estimated 38 million times the mass of the sun or about 10 times more massive than Sagittarius A*. It’s also thought to contain as much mass as around 5% of all stars in its galaxy, a ratio far exceeding that of modern galaxies.
This discovery adds to evidence that early black holes grew faster and might have started out more massive than predicted by models. The study also offers insight into why Little Red Dots are red, with a dense cloud of gas surrounding the black hole potentially shifting emitted light into longer wavelengths.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/space/black-holes/james-webb-telescope-spots-earliest-black-hole-in-the-known-universe-looking-as-far-back-as-you-can-practically-go