Webb Telescope Reveals Hidden Supermassive Black Hole in Nearby Galaxy
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
An elusive supermassive blackhole has been discovered in a nearby galaxy that's millions of light-years away from Earth.
A supermassive blackhole—one measuring millions or billions of times the mass of the Sun—was found at the center of a nearby spiral galaxy known as Messier 83 (M83) by the James Webb Space Telescope, a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
The findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal, reveal evidence of highly ionized neon gas, which could be a telltale sign of an active galactic nucleus (AGN), the bright, compact central portion of a galaxy.
Also known as the Southern Pinwheel, M83 is 15 million light-years away from Earth and was discovered back in 1752.
"With an apparent magnitude of 7.5, M83 is one of the brightest spiral galaxies in the night sky," NASA notes, and it can most easily be observed in June using a pair of binoculars.
A close-up view of a barred spiral galaxy.
A close-up view of a barred spiral galaxy.
ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Adamo Stockholm University and the FEAST JWST team
For decades, astronomers have been unable to confirm the presense of an AGN in M83, with previous research suggesting that should a supermassive black hole exist there, it must be dormant or hidden behind thick dust.
"Our discovery of highly ionized neon emission in the nucleus of M83 was unexpected," said paper lead Svea Hernandez, an astronomer for the European Space Agency at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, U.S., in a statement.
"These signatures require large amounts of energy to be produced—more than what normal stars can generate. This strongly suggests the presence of an AGN that has been elusive until now," Hernandez noted.
Linda Smith from the Space Telescope Science Institute, a co-author of the study, added that the latest discovery marks the first-ever "compelling clue" that a black hole may be present in M83.
She added: "Astronomers thought they had ruled out an AGN in M83, but now we have fresh evidence that challenges past assumptions and opens new avenues for exploration."
The team behind the latest discovery plan to conduct more studies from other observatories, such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Very Large Telescope (VLT), to further explore the nature of the gas and confirm the presence of a supermassive black hole in M83.
These observations will help ascertain whether the newly detected emission in M83 originates from an AGN or other high-energy processes.
Last month, scientists were also surprised to discover oxygen in the most distant galaxy ever found. The record discovery, made via ALMA, suggested that early galaxies formed more rapidly than previously thought.
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about black holes or galaxies? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.
Reference
Svea Hernandez, Linda J. Smith, Logan H. Jones, Aditya Togi, Marcio B. Meléndez, Valentina Abril-Melgarejo, Angela Adamo, Almudena Alonso Herrero, Tanio Díaz-Santos, Travis C. Fischer, Santiago García-Burillo, Alec S. Hirschauer, Leslie K. Hunt, Bethan James, Vianney Lebouteiller, Knox S. Long, Matilde Mingozzi, Lise Ramambason, and Cristina Ramos Almeida (2025). JWST/MIRI Detection of [Ne v] and [Ne vi] in M83: evidence for the long sought-after active galactic nucleus? The Astrophysical Journal. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/adba5d
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
22 minutes ago
- Washington Post
NASA, Pentagon push for SpaceX alternatives amid Trump's feud with Musk
Federal officials at NASA and the Pentagon moved swiftly this week to urge competitors to Elon Musk's SpaceX to more quickly develop alternative rockets and spacecraft after President Donald Trump threatened to cancel Space X's contracts and Musk's defiant response. Government officials were especially stunned after Musk responded to Trump with a salvo of his own: SpaceX would stop flying its Dragon spacecraft, a move that would leave the space agency with no way to transport its astronauts to the International Space Station.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk trades threats with Trump: What it could mean for SpaceX launches in California
When President Donald Trump took office in January, he began offering plenty of signs that his goals for U.S. spaceflight aligned closely with those of billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk. Now those goals, which included reaching Mars during Trump's second term as a top priority, appear to be up in the air amid an increasingly volatile fallout between two of the world's most powerful men. As insults have turned to threats, Trump has suggested he'd hit Musk where it could hurt most: His wallet. Musk's SpaceX has spent years positioning itself at the center of American civil and military spaceflight – a profitable relationship that has made the company's founder incredibly wealthy. In response, Musk has floated – and then retracted – the idea of decommissioning a SpaceX vehicle critical to NASA's spaceflight program. Serious threats, or empty words? That remains to be seen as Musk and Trump reportedly consider a détente. In the meantime, here's what to know about what's at stake if the U.S. government's relationship with SpaceX were to crumble: U.S. spaceflight: Dozens of NASA space missions could be axed under Trump's budget The feud between Trump and his former top adviser escalated in a dramatic fashion when the president threatened to cut off the taxpayer dollars that have fueled Elon Musk's businesses, including SpaceX. "The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts," Trump said in a post on his social media platform. "I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!" In all, Musk and his businesses have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits, a Washington Post analysis found. With SpaceX as the fulcrum of much of the U.S. government's spaceflight programs, parting ways with the commercial company would leave a void that would be hard to fill. But NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens said in a post on social media site X that 'NASA will continue to execute upon the President's vision for the future of space.' 'We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the President's objectives in space are met,' Stevens wrote. Elon Musk, the world's richest man, founded SpaceX, in 2002. The commercial spaceflight company is headquartered at Starbase in South Texas. The site, which is where SpaceX has been conducting routine flight tests of its 400-foot megarocket known as Starship, was recently voted by residents to become its own city. SpaceX conducts many of its own rocket launches, most using the Falcon 9 rocket, from both California and Florida. That includes a regular cadence of deliveries of Starlink internet satellites into orbit from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. In the month of May alone, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket deployed six different deliveries of Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit. Recently, SpaceX has also moved its recovery operations from the Florida Coast to the coast of California for vehicles returning from orbit – with or without a crew. SpaceX also partners for occasional privately funded commercial crewed missions, the most recent of which was an April venture known as Fram2. SpaceX was additionally famously involved in funding and operating the headline-grabbing Polaris Dawn crewed commercial mission in September 2024. SpaceX benefits from billions of dollars in contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense by providing launch services for classified satellites and other payloads. Gwynne Shotwell, CEO of SpaceX, has said the company has about $22 billion in government contracts, according to Reuters. The vast majority of that, about $15 billion, is derived from NASA. SpaceX's famous two-stage Falcon 9 rocket ‒ one of the world's most active ‒ is routinely the rocket of choice to get many NASA missions off the ground. For instance, the rocket is due in the days ahead to help propel a four-person crew of private astronauts to the International Space Station for a venture with NASA known as Axiom Mission 4. NASA also has plans to use SpaceX's Starship in its Artemis lunar missions to ferry astronauts aboard the Orion capsule from orbit to the moon's surface. The rocket, which is in development, has yet to reach orbit in any of its nine flight tests beginning in April 2023. SpaceX's Dragon capsule is also a famous vehicle that is widely used for a variety of spaceflights. The capsule, which sits atop the Falcon 9 for launches to orbit, is capable of transporting both NASA astronauts and cargo to the space station. Under NASA's commercial crew program, the U.S. space agency has been paying SpaceX for years to conduct routine spaceflights to the International Space Station using the company's own launch vehicles. The first of SpaceX's Crew missions ferrying astronauts to the orbital outpost on the Dragon began in 2020, with the tenth and most recent contingent reaching the station in March for about a six-month stay. Standing nearly 27 feet tall and about 13 feet wide, Dragon capsules can carry up to seven astronauts into orbit, though most of SpaceX's Crew missions feature a crew of four. The Dragon spacecraft also was the vehicle NASA selected to bring home the two NASA astronauts who rode the doomed Boeing Starliner capsule to the space station in June 2024. Certifying the Starliner capsule for operation would give NASA a second vehicle in addition to Dragon for regular spaceflights to orbit. Because Boeing is still developing its Starliner capsule, Dragon is the only U.S. vehicle capable of carrying astronauts to and from the space station. It's also one of four vehicles contracted to transport cargo and other supplies to the orbital laboratory. For that reason, Musk's threat Thursday, June 5 to decommission the Dragon "immediately" would be a severe blow to NASA if he were to follow through on it. Musk, though, appears to already be backing off on the suggestion, which he made in response to Trump's own threats. In response to a user who advised Musk to "Cool off and take a step back for a couple days," Musk replied: 'Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon.' Seven astronauts are aboard the International Space Station, including three Americans. Four of the astronauts rode a SpaceX Dragon to the station for a mission known as Crew-10, while the remaining three launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Contributing: Joey Garrison, Josh Meyer, USA TODAY; Reuters Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: SpaceX California rocket launches: Trump-Musk feud's possible effects
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Mars volcano twice as big as Earth's tallest one seen poking through clouds in first-of-its-kind image
A dazzling image taken by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter shows an unprecedented view of a 12-mile-high volcano poking through clouds at dawn on the Red Planet. Arsia Mons, which dwarfs Earth's tallest volcanoes, and its two neighboring volcanoes are often surrounded by water ice clouds, especially in the early morning. The image released Friday marks the first time one of the volcanoes has been imaged on the planet's horizon, NASA said. Odyssey has previously captured high-altitude images of the Martian horizon, and to do so, it rotates 90 degrees while in orbit so that its camera can take the picture, NASA said. The spacecraft typically focuses on the upper atmosphere but also studies surface features. The latest image, captured on May 2, focuses on Arsia Mons, which is roughly twice as tall as Earth's largest volcano, Hawaii's Mauna Loa, which rises 6 miles above the seafloor. The 2001 Odyssey spacecraft captured a first-of-its-kind look at Arsia Mons, which dwarfs Earth's tallest volcanoes. NASA Arsia Mons is the cloudiest of the three volcanoes in the area -- collectively called the Tharsis Mountains -- and the clouds are especially thick when the Red Planet is farthest from the sun, a period called aphelion. The new snapshot clearly shows the cloud canopy across the Red Planet's equator. "We picked Arsia Mons hoping we would see the summit poke above the early morning clouds. And it didn't disappoint," said Jonathon Hill, the operations lead for Odyssey's camera, called the Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS. The angle of the camera allows scientists to see dust and water ice cloud layers, enabling them to observe changes over the course of seasons. "We're seeing some really significant seasonal differences in these horizon images," said planetary scientist Michael D. Smith of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "It's giving us new clues to how Mars' atmosphere evolves over time." Launched in 2001, Odyssey has the distinction of being the longest-running spacecraft orbiting another planet. NASA's Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars in 2021, is collecting samples for an eventual return to Earth from Jezero Crater, an ancient lakebed and river delta that could hold clues to any past microbial life. Last month, Perseverance took a selfie that captured an image of a dust devil popping up about 3 miles behind the rover.
