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A newly identified trio of black holes offers a rare glimpse of the early universe October 26, 2026 · 4:07 · Science and the planet · With Maya and Nora
Nora, astronomers report finding three black holes feeding in one distant galaxy.
Transcript Maya Welcome to Slow English FM. This is Science and the planet, where we explore discoveries about the world and the universe in clear English. I’m Maya, and Nora is our columnist for science and the environment. Nora, astronomers report finding three black holes feeding in one distant galaxy. What makes this discovery stand out? Nora The report describes three actively feeding supermassive black holes in a galaxy called J0148-4214. “Supermassive” means extremely massive. A black hole is a region of space with gravity so strong that light cannot escape it. These black holes are gathering matter around them. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year. This galaxy is about 12.5 billion light-years away, so its light has taken about 12.5 billion years to reach us. We see it as it was about 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang, the event that began the expansion of the universe. Maya Three black holes in one galaxy is unusual. Where are they in relation to one another? Nora Two are near the galaxy’s center, with a reported separation of 620 light-years. The third is about 5,500 light-years from the center. The 620-light-year figure is a projected distance. In other words, it is measured from how the objects appear in the image, rather than giving their full distance apart in three dimensions. Maya And how did the researchers tell that these were three black holes, rather than one? Nora The research team studied the light from hydrogen gas. Gas close to a black hole can move at very high speeds, and that motion leaves patterns in the light. The team used those patterns to identify signs of three black holes. The report says observations from the James Webb Space Telescope helped separate signals that might otherwise have looked like they came from one black hole. Maya So the black holes themselves were not seen directly. The evidence came from how the gas around them behaved. What does “actively feeding” mean here? Nora It means matter is moving toward each black hole through a disk of gas and other material around it. The researchers reported that all three are gathering matter. That activity makes changes in the gas’s light that astronomers can study. Maya The two near the center are also expected to merge. What does the research say about that, and when? Nora The research report expects those two black holes to merge within the next few hundred million years. Maya Why are astronomers interested in black holes coming together in the early universe? Nora The report gives a possible link to how very large black holes formed. Astronomers think galaxy collisions and mergers were common in the early universe. When galaxies combine, their central black holes can move closer and eventually merge too. Those mergers could help explain how some black holes became enormous so early in the universe’s history. This galaxy offers a chance to study three actively feeding black holes at that early stage. Maya And this system may offer more than one stage of that process: three black holes in the same galaxy, with two near the center expected to merge. Nora, thank you for explaining it. Nora You’re welcome. Maya That was Science and the planet on Slow English FM. Thanks for listening.