Six Galaxies Orbiting a Black Hole in Ancient Universe

The discovery of six galaxies orbiting around an ancient galaxy could change our ideas of how the largest black holes in the Universe develop...

Six galaxies orbiting a black hole within a massive spider web of gas spotted in the early Universe could answer a cosmic mystery.

By James Maynard

Astronomers at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) recently found six galaxies orbiting a black hole in the ancient Universe. The galaxies orbiting this supermassive black hole (SMBH) are seen as they appeared when the Universe was just 900 million years old. This collection of galaxies, centered around the quasar SDSS J1030+0524, is the oldest, closest galactic cluster ever seen orbiting a supermassive black hole.

Supermassive black holes are found near the center of every galaxy, including the Milky Way. Those galaxies containing extremely energetic black holes can come alight as quasars.

The new study reveals the galaxies are huddled around a behemoth black hole, 250 times more massive than the SMBH at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Encompassing this system, a vast spider web of gas and dust, 300 times the size of the Milky Way, stretches across space.

Read more: https://thecosmiccompanion.net/six-galaxies-orbiting-a-black-hole

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Join us on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion on Tuesday, October 20, when we will be joined by Dr. Roberto Gilli from the National Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Italy, talking about this discovery.

Here is a sneak preview of the interview:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=824753014966635

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—James