Which came first: Black holes or galaxies? Findings ‘completely shake up’ what we know about galaxy formation.
Black holes not only existed at the dawn of time, they birthed new stars and supercharged galaxy formation, a new analysis of James Webb Space Telescope data suggests.
The insights upend theories of how black holes shape the cosmos, challenging classical understanding that they formed after the first stars and galaxies emerged. Instead, black holes might have dramatically accelerated the birth of new stars during the first 50 million years of the universe, a fleeting period within its 13.8 billion—year history.
Revising Cosmic Theories
“We know these monster black holes exist at the center of galaxies near our
The work is newly published in the DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad1bf0
Authors include Colin Norman and Rosemary F. G. Wyse of Johns Hopkins; Mitchell C. Begelman of University of Colorado and National Institute of Standards and Technology; and Adi Nusser of the Israel Institute of Technology.
The team is supported by the Israel Science Foundation and the Asher Space Research Institute, as well as Eric and Wendy Schmidt by recommendation of the Schmidt Futures program.