Three feeding black holes found in one galaxy from the early universe

· Science

Astronomers have discovered three actively feeding black holes inside a single galaxy more than 12.5 billion light-years away, a scene from the universe's infancy. Two of the black holes are separated by just 620 light-years and are expected to eventually merge, while a third sits farther away in the same galaxy. Finding three accreting black holes together at such a distance is rare and offers a direct look at how the first massive black holes clustered and grew. The close pair in particular gives researchers a nearby-in-cosmic-terms preview of a merger that could eventually produce gravitational waves. The discovery adds to evidence that early galaxies hosted multiple growing black holes rather than a single central one.

Why it matters：Observing multiple accreting black holes in a very distant galaxy sharpens models of early black-hole growth and of the mergers that produce gravitational waves.

Key points

  • The galaxy lies more than 12.5 billion light-years away.
  • Two of the black holes are only 620 light-years apart and are expected to merge.
  • A third black hole is located farther away in the same galaxy.

Sources (original reporting)

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