Oldest black hole can fit 50 million suns and was born with the Big Bang — 'Lonely and naked'

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted the oldest black hole in the universe that was born only a second after the Big Bang. Black holes typically form after the death of a star, but in this case, the black hole defies all explanation, as at this time, no stars and galaxies existed. For decades, astronomers have talked about primordial black holes that have only existed on paper till now. These hypothetical primordial black holes were born immediately after the universe was formed. There was no supernova since 13.8 billion years ago there were no stars as the universe was still in its nascent stage. They are extremely dense pockets of subatomic matter that could be the size of a billion times of mass of the sun, a planet, or simply an atom. No one knows for sure since they have never been observed. Previously, the JWST has seen unexpected very large early galaxies, which some scientists think can only be explained due to the existence of primordial black holes.

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The latest findings, published in a new study that is yet to be peer reviewed, have once again brought to the fore these cosmic structures. This could be yet best proof yet or primordial black holes. Study coauthor Roberto Maiolino, a cosmologist at the University of Cambridge, told The Guardian, "This black hole is nearly naked," adding that it was formed without any galaxy. The black holes discovered by the team is nothing but a "little red dot" dubbed QSO1. JWST first saw several such red dots when it started operations over four years ago. They were calculated to have been born one billion years after the Big Bang. However, there has been contention over what these red dots are. Astronomers have believed that these are extremely compact galaxies and extremely bright since they are visible this far. Or, they think the dots could be active supermassive black holes feeding.

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Black hole could be 50 million times heavier than the Sun

But the authors of the new study state that there are no galaxies in that corner of the universe. They used gravitational lensing to spot the speed at which matter is moving around it. The process involves using the gravity of an object in the foreground as a magnifying glass. This helped them deduce that this black hole is likely the mass of 50 million suns. It also contains twice as much mass as its surroundings.

"This is in stark contrast with what we observe in our local universe, where the black holes at the centre of galaxies [like the Milky Way] are about a thousand times less massive than their host galaxy," Maiolino told the Guardian. The proof cited for the lack of stars in this region is the lack of heavier elements in the surrounding region. Maiolino wrote in another paper that only hydrogen and helium exist around the black hole, the first elements to have emerged after the Big Bang. The heavier elements were only formed when stars died. He says, this suggests 'that the black hole resides in lonely, starless territory."