{"id":1961057,"date":"2026-05-28T21:30:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1961057"},"modified":"2026-05-28T21:30:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:30:39","slug":"a-paradigm-shift-supermassive-black-hole-without-a-galaxy-changes-what-we-thought-came-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1961057","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A Paradigm Shift\u2019: Supermassive Black Hole Without a Galaxy Changes What We Thought Came First"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/115142e4c54681bf22479e99f0a413fa.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"post-2000764626 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-space tag-black-holes tag-galaxies tag-nasa tag-webb-space-telescope\">\n<div class=\"entry-content prose dark:prose-invert lg:prose-xl prose-science dark:prose-science\">\n<p>While probing the dawn of the universe for the origins of ancient galaxies, the James Webb Space Telescope uncovered something unexpected lurking at their cores\u2014a discovery that might reshape our view of the early cosmos.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists have long thought that galaxies evolved first, while the black holes at their center formed after from the collapse of large stars. Recent observations by Webb, however, tell a different story. The telescope captured evidence of supermassive black holes evolving first, without a host galaxy to feed them.<\/p>\n<p>The Webb observations may finally provide an answer to a celestial chicken-or-the-egg question, suggesting that ancient black holes did not need to consume large amounts of surrounding gas and dust to grow to their enormous sizes.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"pullquote text-center\">\u201cIt\u2019s a paradigm shift, a total revisiting of the classical scenarios of how black holes form and grow.\u201d<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThis is a remarkable finding,\u201d Roberto Maiolino, a researcher from the University of Cambridge and co-author of two studies published in Nature and the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, said in a NASA statement. \u201cIt\u2019s a paradigm shift, a total revisiting of the classical scenarios of how black holes form and grow.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>A look back in time<\/h2>\n<p>One of the first tiny glowing flecks of infrared light that Webb found, named <span>Abell2744-QSO1 (QSO1), <\/span><span>dates back to just 700 million years after the Big Bang (5% of its current age).\u00a0<\/span><span>The prototypical Little Red Dot is gravitationally lensed by the galaxy cluster Abell 2744. That makes it an ideal target, as it appears magnified and triply imaged.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Initial observations of QSO1 showed that it may be <span>a supermassive black hole around 40 million times the mass of the Sun, surrounded by a cloud of glowing hydrogen and helium gas. However, scientists couldn\u2019t be sure if the black hole was really that massive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore now, all of the mass measurements of black holes in the early universe have been indirect, based on assumptions from what we know about them in the local universe. We didn\u2019t know if those assumptions really apply to the distant universe,\u201d Francesco D\u2019Eugenio, a researcher at the University of Cambridge and co-author of the studies, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<h2>Weighing the beast<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2000764623\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2000764623\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000764623\" src=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/05\/webb-galaxy.jpg\" alt=\"This new image from NASA\/ESA\/CSA James Webb Space Telescope&apos;s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) shows Abell2744-QSO1, magnified and triply imaged by galaxy cluster Abell 2744.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2000764623\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Lukas Furtak (Ben-Gurion University); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To confirm the mass of the black hole, the team behind the study traced the effects of its gravity on the gas swirling around it and mapped the distribution of various elements in the gas. Using Webb\u2019s Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), the scientists found that the gas orbits a central point in the same way that planets in our solar system orbit the Sun. This phenomenon is known as Keplerian motion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is important because it tells us that most of the mass of QSO1 is concentrated in the black hole at the center,\u201d Ignas Juod\u017ebalis, a graduate student at Cambridge University and lead author of one of the studies, said in a statement. \u201cIf the mass were more distributed, as it would be if there were a lot of stars, the gas would not have this perfect Keplerian rotation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since Keplerian motion is governed by laws of gravity, the team used the velocity measurements of the surrounding gas to directly calculate the mass of the black hole. \u201cThis is a phenomenal result,\u201d Maiolino said. \u201cIt is the first direct measurement of a black hole mass within the first billion years after the Big Bang, and it is consistent with the previous measurements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The results revealed that not only is the black hole supermassive, at 50 million times the mass of the Sun, but it also makes up around two-thirds of QSO1\u2019s total mass. Supermassive black holes generally make up only a small fraction of the total mass of their host galaxies. The discovery revealed a proportion between the supermassive black hole and its galaxy that\u2019s thousands of times greater than in nearby galaxies.<\/p>\n<p>The findings suggest that this black hole was born a big boy rather than forming from a collapsing star and feeding on its surrounding gas to grow to its massive size. The chemical composition of QSO1 also showed that it is made up almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, with very little of the heavier elements like oxygen normally found in a galaxy rich with stars and stellar debris.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt seems that we have found a black hole that does not have a substantial host galaxy and that has predated stellar processes,\u201d Juod\u017ebalis said. \u201cThis is very exciting because it is evidence for primordial black holes or direct collapse black holes, which have been theorized but not confirmed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"entry-content prose dark:prose-invert lg:prose-xl prose-science dark:prose-science\">\n<p>While probing the dawn of the universe for the origins of ancient galaxies, the James Webb Space Telescope uncovered something unexpected lurking at their cores\u2014a discovery that might reshape our view of the early cosmos.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists have long thought that galaxies evolved first, while the black holes at their center formed after from the collapse of large stars. Recent observations by Webb, however, tell a different story. The telescope captured evidence of supermassive black holes evolving first, without a host galaxy to feed them.<\/p>\n<p>The Webb observations may finally provide an answer to a celestial chicken-or-the-egg question, suggesting that ancient black holes did not need to consume large amounts of surrounding gas and dust to grow to their enormous sizes.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"pullquote text-center\">\u201cIt\u2019s a paradigm shift, a total revisiting of the classical scenarios of how black holes form and grow.\u201d<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThis is a remarkable finding,\u201d Roberto Maiolino, a researcher from the University of Cambridge and co-author of two studies published in Nature and the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, said in a NASA statement. \u201cIt\u2019s a paradigm shift, a total revisiting of the classical scenarios of how black holes form and grow.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>A look back in time<\/h2>\n<p>One of the first tiny glowing flecks of infrared light that Webb found, named <span>Abell2744-QSO1 (QSO1), <\/span><span>dates back to just 700 million years after the Big Bang (5% of its current age).\u00a0<\/span><span>The prototypical Little Red Dot is gravitationally lensed by the galaxy cluster Abell 2744. That makes it an ideal target, as it appears magnified and triply imaged.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Initial observations of QSO1 showed that it may be <span>a supermassive black hole around 40 million times the mass of the Sun, surrounded by a cloud of glowing hydrogen and helium gas. However, scientists couldn\u2019t be sure if the black hole was really that massive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore now, all of the mass measurements of black holes in the early universe have been indirect, based on assumptions from what we know about them in the local universe. We didn\u2019t know if those assumptions really apply to the distant universe,\u201d Francesco D\u2019Eugenio, a researcher at the University of Cambridge and co-author of the studies, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<h2>Weighing the beast<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2000764623\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2000764623\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000764623\" src=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/05\/webb-galaxy.jpg\" alt=\"This new image from NASA\/ESA\/CSA James Webb Space Telescope&apos;s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) shows Abell2744-QSO1, magnified and triply imaged by galaxy cluster Abell 2744.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2000764623\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Lukas Furtak (Ben-Gurion University); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To confirm the mass of the black hole, the team behind the study traced the effects of its gravity on the gas swirling around it and mapped the distribution of various elements in the gas. Using Webb\u2019s Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), the scientists found that the gas orbits a central point in the same way that planets in our solar system orbit the Sun. This phenomenon is known as Keplerian motion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is important because it tells us that most of the mass of QSO1 is concentrated in the black hole at the center,\u201d Ignas Juod\u017ebalis, a graduate student at Cambridge University and lead author of one of the studies, said in a statement. \u201cIf the mass were more distributed, as it would be if there were a lot of stars, the gas would not have this perfect Keplerian rotation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since Keplerian motion is governed by laws of gravity, the team used the velocity measurements of the surrounding gas to directly calculate the mass of the black hole. \u201cThis is a phenomenal result,\u201d Maiolino said. \u201cIt is the first direct measurement of a black hole mass within the first billion years after the Big Bang, and it is consistent with the previous measurements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The results revealed that not only is the black hole supermassive, at 50 million times the mass of the Sun, but it also makes up around two-thirds of QSO1\u2019s total mass. Supermassive black holes generally make up only a small fraction of the total mass of their host galaxies. The discovery revealed a proportion between the supermassive black hole and its galaxy that\u2019s thousands of times greater than in nearby galaxies.<\/p>\n<p>The findings suggest that this black hole was born a big boy rather than forming from a collapsing star and feeding on its surrounding gas to grow to its massive size. The chemical composition of QSO1 also showed that it is made up almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, with very little of the heavier elements like oxygen normally found in a galaxy rich with stars and stellar debris.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt seems that we have found a black hole that does not have a substantial host galaxy and that has predated stellar processes,\u201d Juod\u017ebalis said. \u201cThis is very exciting because it is evidence for primordial black holes or direct collapse black holes, which have been theorized but not confirmed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/a-paradigm-shift-supermassive-black-hole-without-a-galaxy-changes-what-we-thought-came-first-2000764626&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/05\/115142e4c54681bf22479e99f0a413fa.jpg&#8221;] While probing the dawn of the universe for the origins of ancient galaxies, the James Webb Space Telescope uncovered something unexpected lurking at their cores\u2014a discovery that might reshape our view of the early cosmos. Scientists have long thought that galaxies evolved first, while the black holes at their center formed after [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,53],"class_list":["post-1961057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-gizmodo-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1961057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1961057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1961057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1961057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1961057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}