Using observations collected by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scientists have discovered active supermassive dark matter, which is estimated to have been created 570 million years after the Big Bang. According to the report science alertPublished Friday, it’s the first ever growing supermassive black hole to be discovered.

It is located in a galaxy formerly known as EGSY8p7 but later renamed CEERS_1019, which is also the oldest galaxy of its kind ever observed by scientists.

“We found the farthest active galactic nucleus (AGN) and the farthest, oldest black hole we’ve ever found,” Larson said. science alert.

First identified with Hubble data in 2015, the galaxy has been confirmed by follow-up observations, although details about its content and nature remain unclear. That’s when JWST intervened. Just an hour after observing CEERS_1019, the telescope returned with rich data.

“At that point I thought, ‘Wow, look at everything we can see with JWST, we’ve seen this whole part of the spectrum of this galaxy and any galaxy in the early universe that we’ve never seen before,’ said Larson. science alert . “I was stunned by the amount of information.”

Incredible discovery

But then the scientist came across an incredible discovery. The light from the AGN and the light from the star formation were clearly distinguished in the galaxy. Seeing the two of them in the same space was something that had never been seen before.

“I was as surprised as anyone,” Larson says. “We argued for weeks about which one should be; It must be one or the other. And it turned out to be both. The black hole somehow affects the radiation lines that we are. “We can see it, but most of the light we see in our images is still dominated by the star-forming part of the galaxy.”

Now Larson says that although CEERS_1019 is currently the oldest known galaxy, such celestial bodies are likely to be discovered. Their analysis will be able to provide important information about how our galaxy came to be.

“I don’t think my record will last long,” Larson said. science alert. “I hope that doesn’t happen because I think it’s more exciting that we start answering these questions.”