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This release features an illustration of the galaxy in which black hole LID-568 resides. A smaller illustration of black hole itself, in an outlined box, is superimposed on top of the galaxy image toward our upper right. Two lines extend from a single point in the middle of the galaxy and terminate on corners of the outlined box containing the black hole illustration. The placement of the lines and outlined box indicate that the superimposed black hole image is an enlargement of a tiny place in the center of the galaxy.

Astronomers Find Early Fast-Feeding Black Hole Using NASA Telescopes

This artist’s illustration shows a red, early-Universe dwarf galaxy that hosts a rapidly feeding black hole at its center. Using data from NASA's JWST and Chandra X-ray Observatory, a team of astronomers have discovered this low-mass supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. It is pulling in matter at a phenomenal rate — over 40 times the theoretical limit. While short lived, this black hole’s ‘feast’ could help astronomers explain how supermassive black holes grew so quickly in the early Universe.

Image Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/M. Zamani
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Image CreditNOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/M. Zamani
Size4166x2691px