JWST finds earliest black hole in the universe

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope confirm CAPERS-LRD-z9 hosts the earliest known black hole dating to 500 million years after the Big Bang.

JWST finds earliest black hole in the universe

Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope have identified CAPERS-LRD-z9, a galaxy dating to about 13 billion years ago. The team says the central black hole, among the earliest known, has a mass around 38 million solar masses and accounts for about 5 percent of the galaxy's star content. The galaxy class Little Red Dots is named for their reddish infrared light; the light is influenced by gas around the black hole, not just stars. The discovery is based on a signature of gas falling into a black hole, observed with Webb's infrared sensors, and the findings appear in the August 6 edition of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The result challenges simple timelines for how black holes grew in the early universe. If these holes grew quickly or started larger, models will need updating. The mass estimate has uncertainties, and the red color may reflect gas effects around the hole rather than just starlight. Researchers caution that more examples are needed to map the population, but CAPERS-LRD-z9 offers a rare glimpse into a universe when galaxies and black holes were still forming.

This discovery marks a turning point for how we study the first billion years of the cosmos. JWST’s ability to see faint infrared light lets scientists probe unseen corners of the early universe, but a single object cannot seed broad conclusions about black hole populations. The unusually large mass fraction of the black hole in CAPERS-LRD-z9 could force theorists to rethink seeding and feedback mechanisms that regulate star formation.

Looking ahead, the finding underscores both the promise and the limits of new technology. More discoveries will come as JWST surveys more systems; the risk is pressing for dramatic headlines if we draw broad conclusions from one example. The real test will be a growing sample and cross checks with other instruments.

Highlights

The universe keeps inviting bigger questions, and JWST is ready to answer.