У правому нижньому куті зображення, зробленого за допомогою NIRCam телескопа Вебба, можна побачити галактику GN-z11 і компактний об'єкт, кольори якого відповідають кольорам акреційного диска, що оточує чорну діру. Джерело: NASA
The galaxy GN-z11 was first discovered by the Hubble telescope, and now its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, has also found a supermassive black hole (also the most distant black hole known to us).
«We saw extremely dense gas, which is often found near supermassive black holes», — explained researcher Roberto Maiolino of the Cavendish Laboratory and the Institute of Cosmology, Cambridge. «These were the first clear indications that GN-z11 contains a black hole that is swallowing up» matter.
The team also detected signs of ionized chemical elements, which are commonly observed near the accretion disks of supermassive black holes, as well as powerful wind jolts emitted by the galaxy (usually caused by processes associated with the intense growth of supermassive black holes). Taken together, these data indicate that GN-z11 contains a 2 million solar mass supermassive black hole in a very active phase of material absorption (which explains its extraordinary brightness).
Another group studying data from the Webb Telescope’s near-infrared spectrometer found a gaseous clump of helium in the halo surrounding GN-z11.
«The fact that we see nothing but helium suggests that this clump must be fairly pristine», says Maiolino. «That’s what theories and simulations of particularly massive galaxies from these epochs have suggested — that there should be pockets of pristine gas in the halo that can collapse to form Population III star clusters».
The search for never-before-seen stars of Population III — a hypothetical population of extremely massive and hot stars that formed at the very beginning of the Universe — is one of the most important goals of modern astrophysics. Their expected characteristic is the presence of ionized helium and the absence of chemical elements heavier than helium.
Source: NASA