A recent discovery by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has challenged conventional thinking about the origins and evolution of galaxies and their supermassive black holes. Using the NIRSpec instrument aboard JWST as part of the RUBIES survey, an international team led by researchers from Penn State identified three mysterious objects in the early universe, about 600-800 million years after the Big Bang. This period is when the universe was only 5% of its current age.

The team studied spectral measurements, which analyze the intensity of different wavelengths of light emitted from objects. They found signatures of “old” stars, which are hundreds of millions of years old—much older than expected in such a young universe. Additionally, they discovered evidence of enormous supermassive black holes in these objects, estimated to be 100 to 1,000 times more massive than the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way. These findings contradict current models of galaxy growth and supermassive black hole formation, which suggest that galaxies and their black holes grow together over billions of years.

Dr. Bingjie Wang, a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State and lead author of the study, expressed surprise at finding ancient stars in a very young universe. These luminous objects hold the record for the earliest signs of ancient starlight. The discovery was first noted in July 2022 when the initial JWST data was released. The team published their findings in Nature several months later.

Images of six candidate massive galaxies, seen 500-700 million years after the Big Bang. One of the sources (bottom left) could contain as many stars as our present-day Milky Way, according to researchers, but it is 30 times more compact
Images of six candidate massive galaxies, seen 500-700 million years after the Big Bang. One of the sources (bottom left) could contain as many stars as our present-day Milky Way, according to researchers, but it is 30 times more compact. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, I. Labbe

Initially, the researchers suspected the objects were galaxies, but further spectral analysis was needed to understand their true distances and the sources of their immense brightness. The new data confirmed these were indeed galaxies from near the beginning of time, containing unexpectedly large supermassive black holes and an ancient population of stars.

Joel Leja, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State and co-author of the studies, described the findings as confusing. The objects could only fit into the current universe model by invoking rapid and exotic formation processes at the dawn of time. The JWST’s infrared capabilities allow scientists to look back about 13.5 billion years, near the universe’s inception.

A significant challenge is distinguishing between light emitted by material falling into a black hole and light from stars in these distant objects. This uncertainty leaves room for various interpretations. The objects could be ancient, massive galaxies forming much earlier than expected, or they might be normal-mass galaxies with extraordinarily massive black holes, far larger than those expected today.

These early galaxies are also incredibly small, just a few hundred light-years in diameter, about 1,000 times smaller than our Milky Way. Despite their size, they contain as many stars as the Milky Way, compressed into a tiny volume. Leja explained that if the Milky Way were compressed to the size of these galaxies, the nearest star would almost be in our solar system. The supermassive black hole, 26,000 light-years away, would be just 26 light-years from Earth and visible as a massive column of light.

Researchers aim to conduct deeper observations to unravel the mysteries of these objects. They plan to take more detailed spectra to differentiate the emission from stars and potential supermassive black holes. Leja hopes for a breakthrough idea to piece together the puzzle, suggesting that a moment of genius might help solve these intriguing cosmic mysteries.

SOURCES

Pennsylvania State University

Bingjie Wang, Joel Leja, et al., RUBIES: Evolved Stellar Populations with Extended Formation Histories at z ∼ 7–8 in Candidate Massive Galaxies Identified with JWST/NIRSpec. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 969 L13. DOI 10.3847/2041-8213/ad55f7

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