“Monster” 2 billion times heavier than the Sun appears from where the universe began

(NLDO) - The unexpected appearance of "monster" PJ308-21 in James Webb's data has upset long-standing cosmological theories.

The brilliant light from PJ308-21, a "monster" quasar, has "traveled through time" from a region of the past less than 1 billion years after the Big Bang, the event that created the universe 13.8 billion years ago.

One billion years after the Big Bang is a period called the "Cosmic Dawn", where long-standing cosmological theories suggest that there was a monotonous space with small, simple galaxies and black holes just born from chaos.

But the timeline was disrupted by PJ308-21, which is 2 billion times more massive than the Sun.

Illustration of a quasar with two small galaxies preparing to merge with its galaxy - Photo AI: ANH THU

A quasar is actually a black hole in disguise. It is in the process of devouring matter so furiously that it appears as bright as a star in the sky.

The image captured by the world's most powerful space telescope, James Webb, of PJ308-21 is not of the present, because light needs a delay equivalent to the distance to reach Earth.

In this case, James Webb looked billions of years away and captured an intact image of the object billions of years ago, in the state and position it once existed in the past.

In this snapshot of PJ308-21, the telescope captures the quasar continuing to grow thanks to a merger between its host galaxy and two satellite galaxies.

Image of ancient quasar in James Webb data - Photo: NASA

The merger of the two galaxies likely provided the monster black hole - quasar - with a large amount of gas and dust, allowing the black hole to grow and continue to fuel PJ308-21.

More surprisingly, both the quasar and the two galaxies that are on the verge of merging with the quasar's host galaxy are already highly evolved, something that would have happened billions of years later, not when the universe was still "infancy".

According to lead author Dr Roberto Decarli from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), the above objects are still evolving extremely efficiently and chaotically thanks to the rich galactic environment in which these sources formed.

PJ308-21 is rich in metals, and the gas and dust around it is undergoing "photoionization" — a process in which photons provide the energy electrons need to escape from atoms, creating charged ions.

One of the galaxies merging with the main galaxy PJ308-21 is also rich in metals and its material is also being partially ionized by electromagnetic radiation from the quasar.

Photoionization is also occurring in the second satellite galaxy, but is being generated by a bout of rapid star formation.

All of these observations—as well as similar evidence of galaxies and black holes that were far more massive than expected in the first few billion years of the universe—are strong evidence that humanity may have to rewrite the history of the Cosmic Dawn.

It may not have been a primitive world, as long believed, where objects may have evolved much more rapidly than they do today. And the universe may not have grown in steady steps, but rather in a way that was as choppy and complex as life on Earth.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/quai-vat-nang-gap-2-ti-mat-troi-hien-ve-tu-noi-vu-tru-bat-dau-196240715083730999.htm