JWST uncovers three actively feeding supermassive black holes in a primordial galaxy

An international research group led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics announced the discovery of three actively feeding supermassive black holes inside the high-redshift galaxy J0148-4214, whose light has been traveling for about 12.5 billion years. By analysing unusual hydrogen-emission patterns with JWST’s NIRSpec integral-field spectrograph and applying spectro-astrometry, the scientists pinpointed two black holes near the galaxy’s nucleus, only 620 light-years apart, and a third located roughly 5,500 light-years outward.

The estimated masses are about 80 million, 2 million and 600,000 times that of the Sun, with the 600,000-solar-mass black hole accreting at a rate that exceeds the conventional Eddington limit. The close pair is projected to merge within a few hundred million years, illustrating a rapid assembly channel for massive black holes in the early universe. Co-author Roberto Maiolino highlighted that such mergers may be a key route to the enormous black holes observed shortly after the Big Bang. The outer black hole could be a recoiled remnant of a prior merger or a slower-moving object heading toward the centre, and the findings showcase JWST’s ability to reveal hidden black-hole populations in distant galaxies.