Breaking Records, NASA Telescope Finds Oldest Supermassive Black Hole

Astronomers found the oldest supermassive black hole named UHZ1 with the Webb and Chandra telescopes (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA – Astronomers discovered the most distant black hole that has never been identified. This black hole is similar to its parent galaxy, so it is believed to be one of the oldest and largest black holes.

This black hole, named UHZ1, was discovered after astronomers combined data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) James Webb Space Telescope.

From the results of the research they obtained, the signs show that the black hole was formed 470 million years after the big bang that formed the universe occurred.

In initial research, Scientist Akos Bogdan stated that UHZ1 is in the same direction as the Abell 2744 galaxy cluster, which is about 3.5 billion light years from Earth. However, after examining again with data from Webb, the results were different.

Webb data shows that UHZ1 is farther away than the Abel 2744 galaxy cluster. It is 13.2 billion light years from Earth. This black hole is thought to have formed when the universe was only 3 percent of its current age.

Meanwhile, in Chandra observations two weeks later, this black hole showed signs of gas emitting intense and hot X-rays. This means that this black hole is still growing.

The latest findings from Bogdan show that the black hole was born massively with a mass of around 10 to 100 million Suns. This mass number is like the total of all the stars in the galaxy where this black hole was found.

UHZ1 will still be researched using combined data from Webb and Chandra. Researchers hope to find images of the formation of the universe through the presence of these black holes.