GNz7q is a starburst galaxy with a candidate proto-supermassive black hole in the early Universe, at a redshift of 7.1899 ± 0.0005,[2] estimated to have existed only 750 million years after the Big Bang. It was discovered in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-North (GOODS-North) field taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.[3]

GNz7q
Observation data (J2000.0 epoch)
ConstellationUrsa Major
Right ascension12h 36m 16.9195s
Declination62° 12′ 32.127″[1]
Redshift7.1899 ± 0.0005[2]
Heliocentric radial velocity2,155,478 km/s
Distance 13 billion ly (4.0 billion pc)
(light travel distance)
30 billion ly (9.2 billion pc)
(present proper distance)
Other designations
FBW2022 GNz7q

The discovery is "the first observation of a rapidly growing black hole in the early universe" and is thought to help explain the growth of supermassive black holes less than a billion years after the Big Bang.[4]

See also

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  • Direct collapse black hole, a process by which black holes may form less than a few hundred million years after the Big Bang
  • J0313–1806, the earliest known supermassive black hole as of 2021, formed a few hundred million years after the Big Bang

References

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  1. ^ Fujimoto, Brammer & Watson 2022, p. 38.
  2. ^ a b Fujimoto, Brammer & Watson 2022.
  3. ^ Space Telescope Science Institute (April 14, 2022). "Hubble Uncovers Bizarre, Evolutionary Missing Link From the Dawn of the Universe". GNz7q lacks various features that are usually observed in typical, very luminous quasars (corresponding to the emission from the accretion disk of the supermassive black hole), which is most likely explained that the central black hole in GN7q is still in a young and less massive phase.
  4. ^ Caitlyn Buongiorno (April 14, 2022), "Astronomers find 'missing link' black hole in the early universe", Astronomy

Sources

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