Latest news with #AnthonyTaylor
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists discovered a distant black hole 300 million times the size of the sun. It's a portal back in time.
Astronomers have discovered the oldest and most distant black hole — a behemoth that likely formed at the dawn of the universe, more than 13 billion years ago. The black hole lies at the center of a galaxy known as CAPERS-LRD-z9. Both cosmic objects are thought to have formed around 13.3 billion years ago, or just 500 million years after the big bang that created the universe. (The big bang theory suggests the universe started as an ultradense, extremely hot point that rapidly expanded out in all directions in a chaotic event some 13.8 billion years ago.) The black hole discovery, described in a study published Wednesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, could shed light on the universe's earliest days and provide insight into how black holes and galaxies evolved. Light takes time to travel across space, which means observing distant objects in the cosmos is a bit like accessing a portal back in time, said Anthony Taylor, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin who led the study's international team of scientists. 'When we look at objects that are very, very far away, it has taken that light billions upon billions of years to reach us,' he said. 'So in reality, we're seeing these objects as they were in the early universe.' As far as black holes go, this one is huge, according to the researchers. It's estimated to be up to 300 million times the size of the sun, with a mass equivalent to that of half the stars in its galaxy. It's also roughly 10 times more massive than the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, Taylor said. Taylor and his colleagues found the black hole in observations of the outermost reaches of the universe from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. The researchers used a technique known as spectroscopy, which splits light into different wavelengths and colors, similar to how a prism separates sunlight into the colors of the rainbow. With spectroscopy, astronomers can look for telltale signs of stars, galaxies and other celestial objects. Black holes gobble up dust and matter around them, compressing and heating the material as it swirls around and falls into the black hole. All of that can be seen with spectroscopy, said study co-author Steven Finkelstein, a professor of astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin. 'We look for these signatures of very fast-moving gas,' Finkelstein said. 'We're talking about velocities of 1,000, 2,000, sometimes even 3,000 kilometers per second. Nothing else in the universe moves that fast, so we know it has to be gas around a black hole.' Scientists have identified possible black hole candidates that are more distant, but this is the oldest one that has been confirmed with spectroscopy, he added. The galaxy that harbors the newfound black hole was also a fascinating discovery, the researchers said. It's part of a class of galaxies nicknamed 'Little Red Dots' because they emit red wavelengths of light and are very compact and unexpectedly bright, according to Taylor. Not much is known yet about Little Red Dots, but they were first spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope. Though some have been spotted relatively nearby, Finkelstein said they were likely more common in the early universe. Studying the CAPERS-LRD-z9 galaxy may yield clues about how Little Red Dots came to be and what causes their distinct red color, the researchers said. It may also provide clues about how such an old black hole came to be so large early on in the universe's evolution. In follow-up studies, the researchers are hoping to find other black holes in the distant universe that are just as old — if not older. 'We only ever survey very tiny areas of the sky with the James Webb Space Telescope,' Finkelstein said. 'So, if we find one thing, there's got to be a lot more out there.' This article was originally published on Solve the daily Crossword
NBC News
3 days ago
- Science
- NBC News
Scientists discovered a distant black hole 300 million times the size of the sun. It's a portal back in time.
Astronomers have discovered the oldest and most distant black hole — a behemoth that likely formed at the dawn of the universe, more than 13 billion years ago. The black hole lies at the center of a galaxy known as CAPERS-LRD-z9. Both cosmic objects are thought to have formed around 13.3 billion years ago, or just 500 million years after the big bang that created the universe. (The big bang theory suggests the universe started as an ultradense, extremely hot point that rapidly expanded out in all directions in a chaotic event some 13.8 billion years ago.) The black hole discovery, described in a study published Wednesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, could shed light on the universe's earliest days and provide insight into how black holes and galaxies evolved. Light takes time to travel across space, which means observing distant objects in the cosmos is a bit like accessing a portal back in time, said Anthony Taylor, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin who led the study's international team of scientists. 'When we look at objects that are very, very far away, it has taken that light billions upon billions of years to reach us,' he said. 'So in reality, we're seeing these objects as they were in the early universe.' As far as black holes go, this one is huge, according to the researchers. It's estimated to be up to 300 million times the size of the sun, with a mass equivalent to that of half the stars in its galaxy. It's also roughly 10 times more massive than the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, Taylor said. Taylor and his colleagues found the black hole in observations of the outermost reaches of the universe from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. The researchers used a technique known as spectroscopy, which splits light into different wavelengths and colors, similar to how a prism separates sunlight into the colors of the rainbow.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Oldest black hole ever seen is 300 million times bigger than our sun
Astronomers have identified the most distant—and by extension earliest—black hole ever seen. Located in the galaxy CAPERS-LRD-z9, the supermassive black hole likely formed 13.3 billion years ago, barely 500 million years after the big bang. But recent discoveries by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mean we could find many similar black holes lurking inside so-called Little Red Dots, or LRDs. Experts started spotting the Little Red Dots about three years ago. In December 2022, data collected by the JWST indicated these numerous, never-before-seen pinpricks of light from extremely distant, ancient formations created at the dawn of the universe. Additional analysis showed that around 70 percent of these LRDs displayed evidence of gas swirling around 2 million miles per hour—solid indicators of accretion disks surrounding supermassive black holes. In many cases, similar accreting black holes are telltale signs of active galactic nuclei, but astronomers needed to examine the evidence more carefully. After years of follow-up study, an international research team led by the University of Texas at Austin's Cosmic Frontier Center say they can now confirm CAPERS-LRD-z9 contains the oldest supermassive black hole ever detected. 'When looking for black holes, this is about as far back as you can practically go. We're really pushing the boundaries of what current technology can detect,' Cosmic Frontier Center researcher and study lead author Anthony Taylor said in a statement. The evidence published on August 6 in the Astrophysical Journal came from JWST's CANDELS-Area Prism Epoch of Reionization Survey (CAPERS) project. Of all its technological arrays, CAPERS allows the telescope to observe the outermost edges of space currently possible. To determine CAPERS-LRD-z9's true identity, experts conducted a spectroscopic analysis of its light emissions in a bid to find fast-moving gas. As it falls into a black hole, gas moving away from Earth's perspective is stretched into redder wavelengths, while the gas moving towards the planet compresses into blue waves. 'There aren't many other things that create this signature. And this galaxy has it,' said Taylor. 'We've seen these clouds in other galaxies. When we compared this object to those other sources, it was a dead ringer.' Further examinations revealed that while a Little Red Dot may appear 'little' at this distance, the name is a bit misleading. The black hole at the center of CAPERS-LRD-z9 is believed to be as much as 300 million times larger than the sun, with a mass equivalent to half of its galaxy's stars. That makes it particularly supermassive even when compared to other supermassive black holes. The implications of its size are particularly striking to astronomers. While newer black holes have plenty of material to devour, that theoretically wouldn't be the case for one born within the universe's first 500 million years. 'This adds to growing evidence that early black holes grew much faster than we thought possible. Or they started out far more massive than our models predict,' said Steven Finkelstein, Cosmic Frontier Center director and study co-author. Moving forward, the team hopes to compile even higher resolution observations from JWST. 'The discovery of Little Red Dots was a major surprise from early JWST data, as they looked nothing like galaxies seen with the Hubble Space Telescope,' Finkelstein explained. 'Now, we're in the process of figuring out what they're like and how they came to be.' Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Controversial referee to officiate Bayern Munich vs PSG
English Referee Anthony Taylor will officiate Bayern Munich's Club World Cup quarter-final against PSG this weekend, Sky Germany has announced. The Premier League referee is no stranger to controversial decisions, particularly when using VAR. Advertisement Bayern and Germany fans will remember him from the national team's European Championship quarter-final clash against Spain, which occurred nearly a year ago to the day. Germany Heartbreak During Germany's quarter-final against Spain, with the teams locked at 1-1, Jamal Musiala's powerful shot hit Marc Cucurella's hand inside the penalty area. There were strong appeals for handball, but Taylor's decision was no penalty. Spain went on to score late into extra time to progress and eventually win the tournament. Such was the outrage from German fans that they started a petition to get the referee kicked out of the tournament, but it was to no avail. To add insult to injury, a few months later, it was concluded that the incorrect decision was given, and Germany should have, in fact, received a penalty from the incident. GGFN | Jamie Allen
Al-Ahram Weekly
25-06-2025
- Sport
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Live score: Mamelodi Sundowns v Fluminense (Club World Cup)
Mamelodi Sundowns v Fluminense Stay tuned as match is due to start at 22:00 Cairo time (GMT+3) Venue: Hard Rock Stadium Referee: Anthony Taylor Find more details on group standings, match schedules, and competition statistics (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.) Short link:
