A black hole 1 billion times the Sun’s mass sits at the center of this galactic web.
Key Takeaways
- Six ancient galaxies surround a supermassive black hole in the early universe.
- These galaxies sit within a massive cosmic web of gas spanning 300 times the Milky Way’s size.
- Observed just 900 million years after the Big Bang, this marks an early cosmic discovery.
- Gas streams along filaments of the cosmic web likely fed the black hole’s rapid growth.
- The finding highlights a possible role of dark matter in shaping early cosmic structures.
_________
A Cosmic Web Ensnaring Six Galaxies
Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have discovered six galaxies clustered around a supermassive black hole in the early universe. These galaxies, collectively known as SDSS J1030+0524, were observed as they appeared just 900 million years after the Big Bang. At that time, the universe was a mere 6% of its current age. This marks the first time such a close grouping of galaxies has been identified within the universe’s first billion years.
The supermassive black hole at the center of this cosmic gathering is astonishingly large, with a mass 1 billion times that of the Sun. Researchers believe these galaxies and the black hole are embedded in a vast web of gas spanning a distance 300 times the diameter of the Milky Way. This cosmic web is a network of gas filaments that connects galaxies and clusters across the universe.
Lead author Marco Mignoli, whose team published the findings in Astronomy & Astrophysics, explained that these filaments served as a source of nourishment for both the galaxies and the central black hole. Streams of gas flowing along the filaments likely fueled the black hole’s rapid growth, enabling it to achieve supermassive status within 1 billion years of the Big Bang.
Unraveling the Cosmic Origins
The study also delves into the origins of the filaments themselves, which may offer clues to another cosmic enigma: dark matter. Normal matter in the early universe was too hot to coalesce into gravitational structures like galaxies. However, dark matter, believed to be much colder, could have formed massive halos early on. These dark matter halos likely attracted normal matter, leading to the accumulation of gas that created the first galaxies and black holes.
The galaxies observed in this study are among the faintest ever detected, suggesting there are likely many more hidden within the same region. Co-author Barbara Balmaverde emphasized that what scientists have discovered so far is only “the tip of the iceberg.”
This groundbreaking research sheds light on how early black holes and galaxies formed, offering a clearer picture of the cosmic web’s role in shaping the universe’s earliest structures.
