Ancient Supermassive Black Hole Discovered by Webb Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered an active supermassive black hole within the galaxy CEERS 1019, which is more than 13 billion years old and likely formed 570 million years after the big bang. The black hole is relatively small, measuring about 9 million solar masses, compared to other black holes in the early universe. The discovery also includes two other lightweight black holes formed about 1 billion years after the big bang. The CEERS 1019 galaxy exhibits unique characteristics, such as a string of three bright spots, and may have undergone a galaxy merger that fueled the activity in its black hole and increased star formation. These findings may lead to breakthroughs in understanding star formation and galaxy evolution throughout cosmic history.