Astronomers have detected what appears to be three supermassive black holes actively feeding inside a single galaxy that existed roughly 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang, according to a report from SciTechDaily. The finding, based on observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, marks the first time such a configuration has been seen in the early universe.
The galaxy, located more than 12.5 billion light-years away, shows signs of three distinct black holes drawing in material, the report states. Two of the black holes sit near the galaxy's center and are close enough that they could spiral together and merge within roughly 700 million years, according to Space Daily. The paper describing the work calls the finding evidence rather than a confirmed detection, the outlet notes.
The discovery offers a rare look at how galaxies and their central black holes grew in the universe's first billion years. Multiple black holes in one galaxy typically point to a merger of smaller galaxies, each bringing its own central black hole. Finding three at once suggests that galaxy collisions were common and rapid in the early cosmos, and that black holes could grow quickly by consuming gas and each other.
Smithsonian Magazine and The Times of India also covered the result, highlighting its novelty. The Weather Channel noted that the potential future merger of the two central black holes would be an event unlike anything observed before.
Researchers will likely continue monitoring the system to confirm the presence of all three black holes and to refine estimates of when the two central objects might collide. If confirmed, the find could reshape models of how the earliest supermassive black holes formed and grew.
