Deep in the distant universe, astronomers have found a black hole that seems to be breaking the usual rules for how fast these cosmic beasts can grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The object, called RACS J0320-35, is so far away that its light has traveled 12.8 billion years to reach us, meaning we see it as just 920 million years after\u00a0the Big Bang<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even at that early time, the black hole had already tipped the scales at about a billion times the mass of the Sun, and it shone in X-rays more brightly than any other\u00a0black hole<\/a>\u00a0found in the universe\u2019s first billion years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Together, these facts reveal a surprising story. The black hole\u00a0appears to be devouring\u00a0matter much faster than the normal theoretical limit. \u201cIt was a bit shocking to see this black hole growing by leaps and bounds,\u201d Luca Ighina, author of the study on RACS J0320-35,\u00a0said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Catching a giant cosmic anomaly\u00a0<\/p>\n The research began with a bright, distant object\u00a0known as RACS\u00a0J0320-35, first flagged in a large radio survey using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP).\u00a0<\/p>\n Follow-up observations with telescopes in Chile, including the Dark Energy Camera and the Gemini South Telescope, confirmed its distance and revealed it was a quasar, a galaxy powered by a\u00a0supermassive black hole<\/a>\u00a0devouring gas and shining so brightly it outshines entire galaxies.<\/p>\n However, it wasn\u2019t until Chandra\u2019s X-ray observations in 2023 that astronomers realized what made this quasar different. When matter falls into a black hole, it heats up and emits light, including powerful X-rays.\u00a0<\/p>\n Normally, this process\u00a0is limited\u00a0by\u00a0something called\u00a0the Eddington limit\u2014a balance point where the outward push of radiation prevents more material from falling in. Think of it as a natural speed cap on how fast\u00a0a black hole can<\/a>\u00a0grow. Surprisingly, the data showed that RACS J0320-35 is breaking this cosmic speed cap.\u00a0<\/p>\n The black hole appears to be growing at about 2.4 times the Eddington limit, which means it\u00a0is consuming the equivalent of\u00a0300 to 3,000 Suns\u2019 worth of material every year.\u00a0This\u00a0is the fastest rate ever seen for a black hole in the\u00a0first billion years of the universe.\u00a0<\/p>\n What does this growth mean?<\/p>\n Until now, astronomers thought the only way early black holes could reach a billion solar masses was if they were born already huge, about 10,000 times the mass of\u00a0the Sun<\/a>, from the direct collapse of giant, pristine gas clouds.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, if RACS J0320-35 has\u00a0indeed\u00a0been feasting at such extreme rates for long periods, it could have started much smaller, with a mass under 100 Suns, like the black holes formed from the deaths of massive stars. That would open up a new path for explaining how these cosmic giants came to be.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBy knowing the mass of the black hole and working out how quickly it\u2019s growing,\u00a0we\u2019re able to\u00a0work backward to estimate how massive it could have been at birth. With this calculation, we can now test different ideas on how black holes are born,\u201d Alberto Moretti, one of the study authors and a researcher at INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera in Italy, said.<\/p>\n Additionally, this quasar is also producing\u00a0jets of particles moving at nearly\u00a0the speed of light<\/a>, a rare feature among quasars.\u00a0The researchers suspect its unusually fast growth might\u00a0be linked\u00a0to the creation of these jets.\u00a0<\/p>\n Therefore, this discovery is more than just a record-breaker. It challenges long-held theories about the birth and growth of black holes and could reshape our understanding of how the early universe evolved.\u00a0<\/p>\n If black holes can grow this quickly, scientists may not need to invoke exotic, rare conditions to explain the existence of billion-solar-mass black holes so soon after the Big Bang. Instead, ordinary black holes formed from collapsing stars might have had a chance to bulk up rapidly under the right conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, a big question that remains is whether RACS J0320-35 really sustains this extreme growth for hundreds of millions of years, or is it just going through a short-lived feeding frenzy? Also, how exactly are its powerful jets tied to this rapid growth?\u00a0<\/p>\n To find answers, astronomers plan to look for and study more\u00a0rule-breaking quasars<\/a>\u00a0with the help of Chandra and upcoming observatories.\u00a0<\/p>\n