James Webb discovered the oldest black hole ever

About the episode

Researchers pointed the James Webb Telescope at the oldest universe previously discovered by the Hubble Telescope. They discovered something impressive within this universe: a supermassive black hole. It is the oldest black hole ever discovered.

The fact that such a supermassive black hole could form so early in the universe — 400 million years after the Big Bang — baffles researchers around the world. The supermassive black holes we already know about, like the one at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, are thought to have taken billions of years to grow to this size.

But this new supermassive black hole must have grown very large in a much shorter time. Black holes are also supposed to be born very large, or the black hole eats matter from the environment much faster. This should be about five times faster than previously thought possible.

The small universe in which this supermassive black hole is located is not endowed with such a long life. This also means the end of the black hole itself, because with this shock, star formation is hindered, and in the end it has nothing left to eat.

Read more about the research here: Astronomers have discovered the oldest black hole ever observed