The Guardian reports that a supermassive black hole discovered at the center of an ancient galaxy “is five times larger than expected for the number of stars it contains, astronomers say.”

Researchers spotted the immense black hole in a galaxy known as GS-9209 that lies 25bn light-years from Earth, making it one of the most distant to have been observed and recorded. The team at Edinburgh University used the James Webb space telescope (JWST) to observe the galaxy and reveal fresh details about its composition and history. Dr Adam Carnall, who led the effort, said the telescope — the most powerful ever built — showed how galaxies were growing “larger and earlier” than astronomers expected in the first billion years of the universe…

Carnall said the “very massive black hole” at the centre of GS-9209 was a “big surprise” that lent weight to the theory that such enormous black holes are responsible for shutting down star formation in early galaxies. “The evidence we see for the supermassive black hole was really unexpected,” said Carnall. “This is the kind of detail we’d never have been able to see without JWST.”

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Source: Slashdot – JWST Discovers a Supermassive Black Hole is ‘Far Larger Than Expected’