Although the James Webb was launched on December 25, 2021 to take over from Hubble, it is still in the preparation phase before it can be fully exploited. Meanwhile, Hubble has just shown that despite its well-packed thirties, it is still capable of exploits.
Thanks to data collected by Hubble, particularly in UV (spectral range not covered by the James Webb), astronomers have been able to identify a rapidly growing black hole, the missing link between young star-forming galaxies and the first holes. supermassive blacks.
The first such example
In one of the most studied areas of the sky, the GOODS-North field, scientists were able to flush out a monster dubbed GNz7q. According to current theories, there is, between the dusty cores of star-forming galaxies and supermassive black holes, a category called a fast-growing black hole which would explain the rapid formation of monsters weighing millions or billions of times the mass. of the Sun.
Thanks to the emission spectrum of GNz7q, which presents the aspects of the dusty galaxy and the quasar without having the characteristics of a fully formed quasar, the scientists are convinced to have the missing link.
It would therefore be a quasar whose central black hole is still in a young and less massive phase, in transition, as the simulations had predicted and which had never before been observed.
A discovery to refine
Although other theories are possible, the agreement of all the measurements made makes the scientists extremely confident in their discovery. The latter was made possible by the set of multi-wavelength data made available to astronomers.
The team behind this discovery is eager to take advantage of the modern, high-definition instruments that the James Webb will make available to them in order to refine the measurements and go in search of other rapidly growing black holes.