With spectroscopy, astronomers can look for revealing signs of stars, galaxies and other heavenly objects. The black holes swallow the dust and the importance around them, compressing and heating the material while turning and falling into the black hole. All that can be seen with spectroscopy, said study co -author Steven Finkelstein, a professor of astronomy at the University of Texas in Austin.
“We are looking for these very fast gas firms,” said Finkelstein. “We are talking about speeds of 1,000, 2,000, sometimes even 3,000 kilometers per second. Nothing more in the universe moves so fast, so we know it has to be gas around a black hole.”
Scientists have identified possible candidates for black holes that are more distant, but this is the oldest that has been confirmed with spectroscopy, he added.
The galaxy that houses the new black hole was also a fascinating discovery, the researchers said. It is part of a class of galaxies nicknamed “Little Red Dots” because they emit red wavelengths and are very compact and unexpectedly bright, according to Taylor.
You still don’t know much about small red points, but James’s space telescope saw them for the first time. Although some have been seen relatively close, Finkelstein said they were probably more common in the early universe.
Studying the Capers-LRD-Z9 galaxy can produce clues about how little red points arose and what causes their distinctive red color, the researchers said. You can also provide clues about how such an old hole became so great at the beginning of the evolution of the universe.
In follow -up studies, researchers expect to find other black holes in the distant universe that are equally old, if not older.
“We only examine very small areas of the sky with the James Webb space telescope,” said Finkelstein. “So, if we find one thing, there must be much more out there.”
