Astronomers, using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), have observed a supermassive black hole named QSO1 in a galaxy approximately 700 million years after the Big Bang. This discovery offers insights into the formation and growth of supermassive black holes in the early universe.
QSO1, located in the galaxy Abell 2744, has a mass around 10 million times that of the Sun, accounting for about 10% of its host galaxy's total mass. This challenges existing models of black hole formation, which typically involve the remnants of massive stars.
The low metallicity of QSO1's host galaxy suggests alternative formation mechanisms, such as primordial black holes (PBHs). PBHs could have formed in the early universe and served as seeds for supermassive black holes. Further observations with JWST are expected to illuminate these processes.