Latest news with #SouthernPinwheel

Newsweek

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@ 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