The James Webb Space Telescope has given scientists an unprecedented view of a distant black hole peering through layers of dust to trace the structure and composition of the material swirling around the massive object.
Webb recently trained his Near Infrared Spectrometer, or NIRSpec instrument, on the supermassive black hole found at the heart of the topmost galaxy seen in Webb’s Stefan Quintet image, one of the first five full-color Webb images released by NASA and collaborators agencies on July 12. The image shows five galaxies in apparent close proximity, although the fifth is actually much closer to Earth.
Spectrometers separate light into its component wavelengths, and because different elements absorb light at known wavelengths, the resulting spectrum allows scientists to determine the chemical composition of the material emitting light or through which the light passes. And because NIRSpec is an infrared spectrometer, it was able to collect a spectrum of the supermassive black even though it was shrouded in stardust.
The result, as the European Space Agency explained in an illustration and a series of Twitter posts, is that Webb saw the supermassive black hole at wavelengths not seen before and corresponding to atomic hydrogen, molecular hydrogen or two hydrogen atoms bound together , and electrically charged iron ions in the gas around the black hole.
Illustration of the chemical composition and structure of a supermassive black hole made possible by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Spectrometer instrument
(ESA)
Taken together, NIRSpec’s analysis of these elements allowed scientists to map the structure of the gas that flows into the black hole to be consumed, as well as the outflows, the gas ejected by powerful jets of radiation generated by the intense compression of gas and dust. , which revolve around the black hole.
NIRSpec is a powerful tool for understanding the chemical constituents and structures of distant objects, and one that scientists will use to study not only black holes, but also stars, galaxies and planets. Spectrum of the exoplanet Wasp-96b captured with NIRSpec as another of the first five WEbb images released to the public.
NIRSpec was created by a group of European companies for ESA, with the European Space Agency being one of three partner agencies that built the Webb Telescope, which also include NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. After more than 20 years of development, $10 billion and months of deployment and calibration, Webb is now doing science almost constantly, so the rate of new discoveries and images is likely to be faster than anyone has seen before.
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