NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope finds strange molecules in supermassive black holes

NASA’s newly developed telescope has found strange compounds swirling around supermassive black holes.

As first reported by Space.com, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered carbonaceous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in three galaxies that were previously thought unable to exist at the centers of these active galaxies.

The results also imply that radiation near the supermassive black holes in these galaxies has altered the general properties of the PAHs, which could complicate a crucial method used by astronomers to assess star formation and also affect their role as biological building blocks could affect .

Three active galaxies

A team of astronomers led by Ismael García-Bernete, an astrophysicist from the University of Oxford in the UK, have studied these three active galaxies imaged by JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

The three galaxies are NGC 6552, located 370 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco; NGC 7319, one of the five galaxies in the famous St. Stephen’s Quintet, is 311 million light-years away in Pegasus; and NGC 7469, which is also in Pegasus and is about 200 million light-years away.

PAHs are molecules characterized by carbon atom rings. These molecules are widespread throughout the cosmos, from distant galaxies to comets in our solar system, according to Space.com.

Because of their abundance, they serve both as useful tracers for star formation and ideal building blocks for life.

PAHS radiate at infrared wavelengths, which can be observed by MIRI when illuminated by ultraviolet radiation in starlight, astronomers using this method to detect PAHs can be sure there are young stars nearby.

Garca-Bernete wanted to know whether the PAH emissions in the active galaxy’s dense, ultraviolet-rich core are the same as in the spiral arms of galaxies, which are quieter star-forming regions.

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Rich in PAHs

According to previous simulations, all PAH molecules would be vaporized by the intense radiation surrounding the supermassive black hole at the center of an active galaxy. Instead, MIRI found that the central regions of all three analyzed galaxies were rich in PAHs.

However, observations showed that the emission came from larger, electrically neutral PAH molecules, proving that the radiation had actually wiped out smaller, electrically charged PAHs, according to Space.com.

The team hypothesized that the larger PAH molecules might have survived because they were shielded by thick, enveloping clouds of molecular gas.

Depletion of the smaller electrically charged PAHs is a problem for astronomers using these compounds to detect star formation, as star-forming regions often have a higher proportion of electrically charged PAHs.

When stars are destroyed at the centers of active galaxies, astronomers cannot predict where they might form.

The next step, according to Garca-Bernete, is to assess a larger sample of active galaxies with different properties.

“This will allow us to better understand how PAH molecules survive and what their specific properties are in the core region of galaxies. This knowledge is key to using PAHs as an accurate tool to characterize the extent of star formation in galaxies and the evolution of galaxies over time,” García-Bernete said in a statement.

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

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