There is no such thing as a short cough after a big meal.
And it turns out we’re not alone – because a supermassive black hole has been spotted ‘sleeping’ after eating too much.
An international group of astronomers, led by a University of Cambridgehas used James Webb Space Telescope to detect a black hole in the early universe, 800 million years after the Big Bang.
The black hole is massive – 400 million times the mass of our Sun – making it one of the largest black holes discovered by Webb at this time in the universe’s evolution.
It is so massive that it makes up about 40 percent of the mass of its galaxy.
By comparison, most black holes in the nearby universe make up about 0.1 percent of their galaxies.
However, despite its large size, the hole is still consuming, or growing, the gas it needs to grow slowly – about 100 times below its theoretical limit – and keep it quiet.
And this discovery has challenged existing models of how black holes grow.
An international team of astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, used the James Webb Space Telescope to detect a black hole in the early universe, 800 million years after the Big Bang.
There is no such thing as a short cough after a big meal. And it turns out we’re not alone — because a supermassive black hole has been spotted snoozing ‘after eating too much (stock photo)
The researchers say that what happens most is that black holes pass through for a very short period of time, followed by a long period of dormancy.
Professor Roberto Maiolino, one of the authors of the study, said: ‘It is possible that black holes are ‘born big’, which could explain why Webb has seen massive black holes in the early universe.
But another possibility is that they go through fast periods, followed by long periods of sleep.
‘It sounds counterintuitive to describe a smooth black hole with periods of hyperactivity, but these frequent outbursts cause it to expand rapidly while spending most of its time sleeping.’
Some research shows that black holes like this eat for 5 to 10 million years and sleep for about 100 million years.
When black holes sleep, they are very faint, making them difficult to see, even with telescopes like Webb.
Black holes cannot be directly observed.
Instead they are detected by the telltale light of the swirling accretion disc, which is located near the edge of the black hole.
The gas in the accretion disc becomes very hot and begins to glow and emit energy in the ultraviolet range.
The team said that this new discovery could be the tip of an even bigger iceberg, as black holes in the early universe spend most of their time in silence.
“There are probably many black holes out there in the atmosphere – I’m surprised we found this one, but I’m excited to think there are many more we can find,” added Professor Maiolino.
Their findings were published in the journal Nature.
