Webb telescope discovers runaway supermassive black hole racing through space

An illustration showing the runaway supermassive black hole. Pic Courtesy/Robert Lea

Astronomers have made a mind-boggling discovery using the James Webb Space Telescope: a runaway black hole 10 million times larger than the sun, rocketing through space at a 1000 kilometres per second. That not only makes this the first confirmed runaway supermassive black hole, but this object is also one of the fastest-moving bodies ever detected, rocketing through its home, a pair of galaxies named the "Cosmic Owl," at 3000 times the speed of sound at sea level here on Earth. The black hole is pushing forward a literal galaxy-sized "bow-shock" of matter in front of it, while simultaneously dragging a 200,000 light-year-long tail behind it, within which gas is accumulating and triggering star formation.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever