As astronomers push our views of the Universe further back in time, their telescopes keep uncovering surprises. That’s the case with a supermassive black hole in CEERS 1019, a distant very early galaxy.
How early? It already existed and was assembling itself some 570 million years after the Big Bang. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) caught a glimpse of it and studied its black hole. It also took data about two other black holes as they were when the Universe was about a billion years old.
These galaxy and black hole discoveries are part of a special observing program with JWST. It’s called the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey. The idea is to get detailed images and spectra of early, distant objects in infrared and mid-infrared light. Objects in the very early universe shine in ultraviolet and visible light. However, by the time their light reaches us, it’s “stretched” into the infrared regime. Since infrared also can penetrate through dusty regions, it gives the added advantage of seeing objects that otherwise would be hidden.
Finding black holes in the early universe in early galaxies opens up our understanding of that time in cosmic history. It is shortly after the Big Bang. For example, this newly found CEERS galaxy and its active supermassive black hole surprised astronomers. CEERS 1019 existed at a time when the first galaxies were forming. So, they should be small and relatively featureless, right? And, if they have black holes at that early epoch, those should be relatively low-mass (for black holes, that is). Right?
A Baby Galaxy and Its Black Hole
Well, it’s complicated. It turns out that those black holes ARE lower-mass. But, at least one of them is still larger than it should be. How do we know this? JWST can study both early galaxies and their black holes, according to Steve Finkelstein, PI of the CEERS survey. “Until now, research about objects in the early Universe was largely theoretical,” he said. “With Webb, not only can we see black holes and galaxies at extreme distances, we can now start to accurately measure them. That’s the tremendous power of this telescope.”
A team of researchers led by Steven Finkelstein and Rebecca Larson from The University of Texas at Austin have identified the most distant active supermassive black hole to date in the James Webb Space Telescope’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey. The black hole, within galaxy CEERS 1019, existed just over 570 million years after the big bang and is far less massive than other black holes previously found in the early universe. Illustration credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI).
So, how do CEERS 1019 and its black hole measure up? The galaxy itself appears as three bright clumps without a disk. So, it’s really still assembling itself and cranking out new stars as it builds its structure. “We’re not used to seeing so much structure in images at these distances,” said CEERS team member Jeyhan Kartaltepe, an associate professor of astronomy at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. “A galaxy merger could be partly responsible for fueling the activity in this galaxy’s black hole, and that could also lead to increased star formation.”
And that infant supermassive black hole? It’s quite busily ingesting gas and turns out to have 9 million solar masses. That’s less than some black holes of its era but still larger than expected. It exists so early in history that it seems to have formed very shortly after the Universe began, which is intriguing.
Interestingly, the black hole turns out to be more like Sagittarius A*, the one in the center of the Milky Way. And, that’s exciting even while it’s still puzzling. “Looking at this distant object with this telescope is a lot like looking at data from black holes that exist in galaxies near our own,” said Rebecca Larson, a recent Ph.D. graduate at UT Austin, who led the study of these objects. “There are so many spectral lines to analyze!”
About Those Spectral Lines
While the infrared view shows us the structure of the galaxy, the spectral lines reveal other characteristics. For example, spectra can pinpoint high-energy outflow speeds and temperatures. In the case of CEERS 1019, the spectroscope captures both the black hole and its host galaxy. Its data reveal the black hole’s appetite for gas as well as the star-formation rate. It will be interesting to see if this scenario plays out in other galaxies in the CEERS survey. In the meantime, however, these first discoveries are priming astronomers to refine their ideas about black holes and galaxy formation in the infant universe.
The epoch of reionization was when light from the first stars could travel through the infant universe. At this time, galaxies began assembling, as did black holes. Credit: Paul Geil/Simon Mutch/The University of Melbourne.
In particular, CEERS focuses on these objects as they existed in the Epoch of Reionization. That’s a point in cosmic history when light began to travel freely across the expanding universe. That light came from the first stars and ionized the gas between stars and galaxies. It also appears that galaxies began assembling during this time (and perhaps earlier) as well. The survey data covers the build-up of stars (stellar mass), the morphological changes in the galaxies as a result, as well as the growth of those early black holes. So, studying this period is key to tracing a timeline of the Universe’s origins and evolution through the buildup and transformation of those earliest galaxies. This is one of the key aims of the JWST, which is just finishing its first full year of observing the infrared universe.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
