A nearby black hole as a window into the early universe

An international team led by Stefanie Komossa from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn has studied a galaxy that has been shining exceptionally brightly in the radio regime for more than eight years. Although it is only 1.8 billion light-years away from us, the central black hole in the galaxy exhibits properties typical of the early universe. New observations and archival data suggest that, for several years now, more matter has been falling into the black hole, triggering a high-energy particle jet. The discovery enables researchers to better understand the formation of jets and the growth of black holes in the early universe.