Astronomers say that a supermassive black hole that has been discovered at the heart of an ancient galaxy is five times larger than expected for the number of stars it contains. Researchers spotted the immense black hole in a galaxy known as GS-9209 that lies 25bn light-years from Earth, making it one of the most distant to have been observed and recorded. The team at Edinburgh University used the James Webb space telescope to observe the galaxy and reveal fresh details about its composition and history. Dr Adam Carnall, who led the effort, said that the telescope – the most powerful ever built – showed how galaxies were growing “larger and earlier” than astronomers expected in the first billion years of the universe. According to him, the “very massive black hole” discovered at the centre of GS-9209 galaxy is a “big surprise” that lends weight to the theory that such enormous black holes are responsible for shutting down star formation in early galaxies. The researchers determined that no stars had formed in the galaxy for half a billion years leading them to believe that this supermassive black hole was responsible for the killing of new star’s formation. This is because supermassive black holes release huge amounts of high-energy radiation when they grow.. and this can heat up and push gas out of galaxies.

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