--- title: "JWST Looks Back In Time And Discovers Oldest Known Black Hole in the Universe" description: "Because it peers so deeply, the James Webb Space Telescope is looking back in time — and it recently spotted the oldest known black hole in the universe. " date: "2023-04-07" modified: "2023-04-07" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/jwst-discovers-oldest-known-black-hole" categories: - "Astrophysics" - "Black Holes" - "Space" tags: - "Black holes" - "james webb space telescope" - "JWST" - "the digest" --- # JWST Looks Back In Time And Discovers Oldest Known Black Hole in the Universe ![]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Long Ago Because it looks so deeply into space, the James Webb Space Telescope is also looking way back in time — and it recently spotted what scientists believe is the oldest known black hole in the universe. As [*Live Science* notes](), the Webb telescope's uber-powerful sensors allowed it to spot the supermassive black hole, which is 10 million times more massive than the Sun and sat at the center of a galaxy some 570 million years after the universe began. To put that into perspective, [NASA notes]() that current estimates put the universe at about 13.7 billion years old, give or take about 200 million. So it's an old guy, even by universe standards. In an interview with *Live Science*, University of Texas at Austinastrophysicist Rebecca Larson, who led the recent research into the very ancient black hole, noted that while this is the oldest discovered thus far, "there should be many \[more\] of them," some of which could be even older. "We do expect that this black hole didn't just form \[recently\], so there should be more that are younger and existed earlier on in the universe," said Larson, a PhD candidate at the University of Texas at Austin. "We're just starting to be able to study this time in cosmic history this way with the JWST, and I'm excited for us to find more of them." ## Far Away Because light travels through space at a fixed speed, the deeper our telescopes peer out into the unknown, the further back in time they're seeing. To see black holes, and especially old ones, scientists need special equipment — like the JWST's Near Infrared Camera and its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). In their paper, which has been published to a [pre-print server]() but hasn't yet been peer-reviewed, Larson and her team noted that they found the ancient black hole as part of their research for [Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey](), which uses the JWST to look back at the early universe and see what they find. Clearly, the survey is going well if they're finding black holes this old — and who knows what they'll discover next. **More on Webb:** *[The Webb Telescope Is So Powerful, It Spotted a Dust Storm on a Planet in a Different Star System]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()