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Webb telescope discovers runaway supermassive black hole racing through space

Updated on: 19 December,2025 07:11 AM IST  |  Texas
Agencies |

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

Webb telescope discovers runaway supermassive black hole racing through space

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

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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.

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