Recent JWST observations of the distant universe have confirmed the existence of a population of infant galaxies containing black holes that are more massive than expected, given the size of their host galaxies. These black holes are between 10 and 100 times more massive than those found in similar galaxies in the nearby universe. In this artist’s conception, a black hole (center) is contained in a small host galaxy in the distant universe (left). In the nearby universe (right), the same sized black hole would be hosted in a much bigger galaxy. The ratio between a galaxy’s stellar mass and its black hole mass in the nearby universe is typically 1000:1, while distant black holes can be as massive as the galaxies they inhabit.
Client
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Project Type
Science Visualization
Category
Astrophysics
Credit
Melissa Weiss/CfA
Fabio Pacucci and his team discovered that the mass of central black holes in relation to their host galaxies differed greatly between the distant and nearby Universe. Creating a visual comparison of those differences was an interesting challenge.
We decided to break free from the traditional two panel comparison in order to tell this story.