Astronomers detect three supermassive black holes in a galaxy 12.5 billion light-years away

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have identified what may be the first known galaxy in the early universe hosting three supermassive black holes. The galaxy, designated J0148-4214, is so distant that its light traveled about 12.5 billion years to reach the telescope, showing the system as it existed a little more than one billion years after the Big Bang.

The discovery emerged from a search for early galaxies with dual black holes, intended to test how such objects grow rapidly. JWST's spectroscopic instrument revealed unusual light patterns at the galaxy's center, indicating hydrogen gas moving at speeds only explainable by the gravitational pull of massive black holes.

Analysis of the data showed two black holes separated by roughly 620 light-years at the galaxy's core, a distance close enough that they could merge within a few hundred million years. A third black hole resides about 5,500 light-years from the central pair.

The two central black holes have estimated masses of 80 million and 0.6 million times the mass of the Sun, while the more distant third black hole holds about two million solar masses. The largest of the three is accreting matter at a slower rate than its much smaller companion, which appears to be accreting faster than current theoretical models predict is possible.

Researchers suggest the third black hole may eventually join the central merger or could have been displaced there by an even earlier collision. The system provides direct observational evidence that black hole mergers were an efficient mechanism for rapid growth in the early cosmos.

The findings were published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics on August 12. Independent astrophysicists noted that the presence of three such massive objects so soon after the Big Bang challenges existing timelines for black hole formation and assembly.