Overview
- A team led by Andrew B. Newman published a Science paper on June 4 reporting a stellar‑dynamical mass of about 6 billion solar masses for the dormant black hole in galaxy MRG‑M0138, seen from roughly 10 billion light‑years away.
- The measurement used JWST NIRSpec integral‑field spectroscopy to map star velocities inside the black hole’s sphere of influence and relied on roughly 30× magnification from a foreground gravitational lens to reach the needed resolution.
- MRG‑M0138 is quiescent with no recent star formation and an inactive central black hole, which the authors say is consistent with past quasar activity that could have expelled the galaxy’s star‑forming gas.
- This result extends the stellar‑dynamics technique from the local universe (previous limit ~700 million light‑years) to cosmological distance and demonstrates feasibility for direct mass estimates of dormant black holes in the early universe.
- The team is analyzing more JWST targets and says forthcoming wide surveys and instruments — notably Euclid, the Roman Space Telescope, and next‑generation ground ELTs — will supply larger lens samples and higher‑resolution follow‑up to build a statistical picture of early black‑hole growth.