Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Which came first, galaxies or black holes? New Webb observations show that some supermassive black holes actually were enormous from their beginnings, forming without aid of a massive host galaxy or resulting from the collapse of stars. It’s shifting the traditional ideas around how black holes form and grow.
This object, called QSO1, was observed using a special mode of our Near Infrared Spectrograph that allows scientists to map their observations spatially. The result is a map of the motions of the gas that surrounds the black hole, and thus the black hole’s mass - something that was not possible to do before Webb.
As a way to visualize these observations, this video sets Webb data to an artificial sound.
Read more: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-reveals-black-hole-that-formed-before-its-galaxy
Sonification: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Christopher Britt (STScI), Ralf Crawford (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Margaret Carruthers (STScI); Science: Ignas Juodžbalis (Cambridge), Cosimo Marconcini (University of Florence), Roberto Maiolino (Cambridge), Francesco D'Eugenio (Cambridge), Hannah Übler (MPE)
Which came first, galaxies or black holes? New Webb observations show that some supermassive black holes actually were enormous from their beginnings, forming without aid of a massive host galaxy or resulting from the collapse of stars. It’s shifting the traditional ideas around how black holes form and grow.
This object, called QSO1, was observed using a special mode of our Near Infrared Spectrograph that allows scientists to map their observations spatially. The result is a map of the motions of the gas that surrounds the black hole, and thus the black hole’s mass - something that was not possible to do before Webb.
As a way to visualize these observations, this video sets Webb data to an artificial sound.
Read more: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-reveals-black-hole-that-formed-before-its-galaxy
Sonification: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Christopher Britt (STScI), Ralf Crawford (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Margaret Carruthers (STScI); Science: Ignas Juodžbalis (Cambridge), Cosimo Marconcini (University of Florence), Roberto Maiolino (Cambridge), Francesco D'Eugenio (Cambridge), Hannah Übler (MPE)
