Hungry Supermassive Black Hole Devouring Matter 40 Times Faster Than Possible Discovered

The discovery of the supermassive black hole challenges the existing models and our understanding of these cosmic bodies.

A supermassive black hole at the centre of a distant Galaxy, devouring matter at a phenomenal rate -- over 40 times the theoretical limit, called the Eddington limit -- has been discovered by astronomers, using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Chandra X-ray Observatory. While peering into the galaxy using JWST's infrared vision, researchers discovered outflows of gas surrounding the hungry black hole, unlike anything ever observed and published the findings in the journal Nature Astronomy.

"Owing to its faint nature, the detection of LID-568 would be impossible without JWST. Using the integral field spectrograph was innovative and necessary for getting our observation," Hyewon Suh of the International Gemini Observatory who led the study stated.

Also read | Black Holes Might Be Responsible For Expansion Of Universe, New Study Claims