There are more black holes in the early universe

Hubble re-photographed the survey region for the observations.

Blurbed by Blurbs

20 Sep, 2024

This is a new image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The first deep imaging of the field was done with Hubble in 2004. The same survey field was observed again by Hubble several years later, and was then reimaged in 2023. By comparing Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 near-infrared exposures taken in 2009, 2012, and 2023, astronomers found evidence for flickering supermassive black holes in the hearts of early galaxies. One example is seen as a bright object in the inset. Some supermassive black holes do not swallow surrounding material constantly, but in fits and bursts, making their brightness flicker. This can be detected by comparing Hubble Ultra Deep Field frames taken at different epochs. The survey found more black holes than predicted. NASA, ESA, Matthew Hayes (Stockholm University); Acknowledgment: Steven V.W. Beckwith (UC Berkeley), Garth Illingworth (UC Santa Cruz), Richard Ellis (UCL); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

An international team of scientists led by scientists in the Department of Astronomy at Stockholm University used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to determine how many black holes exist among a population of faint galaxies when the universe was just a few percent of its current age.

They found more black holes in the early universe than previously reported.

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