Stargazers across County Durham have spent recent days looking upwards for celestial events including the Perseid meteor shower and this month’s solar eclipse.
Now, researchers at Durham University have helped uncover something even more extraordinary: an entirely new type of object in the universe.
Astronomers from Durham University’s Institute for Computational Cosmology were part of an international team – led by MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research - that identified what they are calling a ‘black hole star’.
It was discovered using observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
The strange object, which has been named MoM-BH*-1, appears as an extremely bright red dot in the early universe.
It could help explain the origins of other mysterious “little red dots” spotted in deep-space images captured by the JWST.
Astronomers have discovered a 'black hole star'
(Image: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT and shared on Durham University's Facebook)
Scientists believe the object is unlike anything observed before.
While it resembles a giant star stretching to roughly the size of our solar system, researchers say it produces around 100 billion times more energy than any known star, placing it closer to the output normally associated with a black hole.
It is believed that the object contains a central black hole about 100,000 times bigger than the sun.
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Rather than being powered by nuclear fusion like a normal star, the object appears to draw its energy from the growing black hole at its centre.
Durham University’s role in the project focused on helping theoretical interpretation of the unprecedented data being returned by the James Webb Space Telescope.
It comes after residents around the North East gazed at the recent eclipse
(Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)
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Their contribution was led by Professor Sownak Bose from the Department of Physics and Institute for Computational Cosmology.
Scientists found that incorporating an actively growing black hole into their models provided the closest match to what was actually observed by the telescope.
The discovery comes at a time of heightened interest in the night sky, with stargazers recently treated to the annual Perseid meteor shower and viewing opportunities linked to this month’s solar eclipse.
But while those events could be seen from Earth, MoM-BH*1 dates back to the early universe, just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, making it one of the most unusual cosmic objects ever identified.