{"id":21935,"date":"2022-05-27T10:57:30","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T09:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=21935"},"modified":"2022-05-27T11:02:32","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T10:02:32","slug":"investigating-supermassive-black-holes-early-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/investigating-supermassive-black-holes-early-universe\/21935\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigating supermassive black holes in the early Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"
An international team of astronomers have utilised a database combining observations from some of the most advanced telescopes in the world, including the Subaru Telescope, to detect the signal from the active supermassive black holes of dying galaxies in the early Universe.<\/p>\n
The appearance of these active supermassive black holes correlates with changes in the host galaxy, suggesting that a black hole could have far-reaching effects on the evolution of its host galaxy.<\/p>\n
The Milky Way Galaxy includes stars of various ages, including those that are still forming. However, in other specific galaxies, known as elliptical galaxies, all of the stars are old and approximately the same age.<\/p>\n
This indicates that early in their history, elliptical galaxies had a period of prolific star formation that ended abruptly. Why this star formation ceased in some galaxies but not others is not well understood. One possibility is that a supermassive black hole disrupts the gas in certain galaxies, and creates an environment that is unsuitable for star formation.<\/p>\n To test this theory, astronomers look to analyse distant galaxies. It takes time for light to travel across the void of space. For instance, the light we see from an object 10 billion light-years away had to travel for 10 billion years in order to reach Earth. Thus, the light we see today can indicate what the galaxy looked like when the light first left that galaxy 10 billion years ago.<\/p>\n This means that observing distant galaxies is like looking back in time. Although the intervening distance also means that distant galaxies<\/a> look fainter, making observations more difficult.<\/p>\n
The COSMOS survey region surrounded by images of galaxies used in this study. In these galaxies star formation ceased around 10 billion years ago. (3-color false-color composite images combining data from the Subaru Telescope and VISTA) (Credit: NAOJ)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAnalysing distant galaxies<\/h3>\n