Prehistoric Black Hole

Spitzer_ssc2010-03b_1024

spitzer_ssc2010-03b March 17th, 2010

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC)

This artist's conception illustrates one of the most primitive supermassive black holes known (central black dot) at the core of a young, star-rich galaxy. Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have uncovered two of these early objects, dating back to about 13 billion years ago.

The monstrous black holes are among the most distant known, and appear to be in the very earliest stages of formation, earlier than any observed so far. Unlike all other supermassive black holes probed to date, this primitive duo, called J0005-0006 and J0303-0019, lacks dust.

As the drawing shows, gas swirls around a black hole in what is called an accretion disk. Usually, the accretion disk is surrounded by a dark doughnut-like dusty structure called a dust torus. But for the primitive black holes, the dust tori are missing and only gas disks are observed. This is because the early universe was clean as a whistle. Enough time had not passed for molecules to clump together into dust particles. Some black holes forming in this era thus started out lacking dust. As they grew, gobbling up more and more mass, they are thought to have accumulated dusty rings.

This illustration also shows how supermassive black holes can distort space and light around them (see warped stars behind black hole). Stars from the galaxy can be seen sprinkled throughout, and distant mergers between other galaxies are illustrated in the background.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/3005-ssc2010-03b-Prehistoric-Black-Hole

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Public Domain

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Image Details

Image Type
Artwork
Subject - General
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Black Hole
Star > Circumstellar Material > Disk > Accretion
Galaxy > Activity > AGN > Quasar
Galaxy > Component > Center/Core
Spitzer_ssc2010-03b_1280
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ID
ssc2010-03b
Subject Category
E.3.1.10.   E.3.7.2.2.   E.5.3.2.1.   E.5.4.9.  
Subject Name
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC)
Release Date
2010-03-17
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/3005-ssc2010-03b-Prehistoric-Black-Hole
Type
Artwork
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Instrument
Color Assignment
Band
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Spitzer Space Telescope
URL
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
Public Domain
Publisher
Spitzer Science Center
Publisher ID
spitzer
Resource ID
ssc2010-03b.tif
Metadata Date
2011-09-02
Metadata Version
1.1
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