Galaxies

Blogs about galaxies, singles ones on in clusters

The quasar J0148+0600

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports the results of observations of primordial quasars that indicate that supermassive black holes form from “seeds” that are very massive and grow quickly. A team of researchers used observations conducted with the James Webb Space Telescope as part of the EIGER project to detect the faint light of the stars surrounding three of those quasars. This feat offers the possibility of obtaining much more information that allows to estimate the mass of galaxies and central supermassive black holes.

The estimates obtained for the three galaxies at the center of this study indicate that the primordial supermassive black holes were much more massive than today’s supermassive black holes compared to their host galaxies. According to the researchers’ reconstruction, primordial quasars powered by black holes engulfed materials at enormous speeds as they went from initial seeds to supermassive black holes.

A spectroscopic observation conducted with the James Webb Space Telescope's Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument of the galaxy Cosmos-11142 centered on the oxygen emission line doubly ionized

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An article published in the journal “Nature” reports the observation of very strong winds coming from the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy Cosmos-11142 which inhibited star formation within it. A team of researchers led by Professor Sirio Belli of the University of Bologna, Italy, used the James Webb Space Telescope to detect the movement of cold neutral gas pushed at such a speed that it swept away the gas in the galaxy and thus prevented the formation of new stars. This is the first evidence of how a supermassive black hole can have that effect on a galaxy.

The M82 galaxy in Hubble's view on the left and the area of very intense star formation seen by Webb on the right

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An article submitted for publication in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports a study of the exceptional rate of star formation in the M82 galaxy. A team of researchers led by Alberto Bolatto of the University of Maryland, College Park, used the James Webb Space Telescope to map powerful galactic winds that expel vast amounts of gas caused by star formation and supernova explosions.

The NIRCam instrument is the one used in particular to trace the origin of that activity back to dense star clusters in the galactic disk. This new study of M82 offers advances in understanding star formation and how this activity is affecting the galaxy.

Una porzione di cielo fotografata dallo strumento NIRCam del telescopio spaziale James Webb con la galassia GN-z11 nel riquadro

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Two articles, one published in the journal “Nature” and one accepted for publication in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics”, report different aspects of a study of the galaxy GN-z11, one of the most distant known, which revealed the presence of the most distant and ancient black hole found so far. A team of researchers led by Roberto Maiolino of the University of Cambridge used the James Webb Space Telescope to examine GN-z11 finding traces of the activity of the supermassive black hole at its center. Those traces indicate that it’s devouring surrounding materials at a remarkable speed. Spectroscopic analyzes showed the presence of a clump of helium in the halo surrounding GN-z11 and no heavy elements, suggesting that first-generation stars may form in that halo.

The region of sky where quasar J0529-4351 is located. It was created from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2 while the inset shows the position of this quasar in the center in an image from the Dark Energy Survey.

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An article published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” reports the identification of the brightest and most voracious quasar discovered so far, cataloged as J0529-4351. A team of researchers used various instruments to understand that it wasn’t a nearby star but a primordial quasar we see as it looked over 12 billion years ago.

The researchers estimated that the mass of the supermassive black hole that powers it is about 17 billion times the Sun’s, and it’s devouring materials around it at a very high rate, about the mass of the Sun every day. The study of this record-breaking primordial quasar can help reconstruct the history of the early universe and the processes that led to it becoming what it is today.