James Webb Space Telescope

For a galaxy at its age, Pablo's Galaxy is massive. Formed during an early period in the universe's history and officially known as GS-10578, Pablo's Galaxy received its nickname from a scientist who observed it in detail and noted its immense size: Its total mass is about 200 billion times the mass of our Sun.

Yet like a spiraling whirlpool, a black hole is currently removing so much gas from Pablo's Galaxy that it can no longer normally form stars. Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), University of Cambridge researchers led a study in the journal Nature Astronomy revealing the exact amount of gas being uncontrollably pulled into the celestial abyss by the black hole's gravity.

"Even though everyone was expecting black holes to starve galaxies by heating or removing gas, measurements showed that the amount of gas we could see being removed was simply not enough," Francesco D'Eugenio, an astronomer at the University of Cambridge's Kavli Institute for Cosmology, told Salon. "But before JWST, we could only see the hot, thin gas that shines most brightly. It turns out most of the gas being removed may be colder and harder to see."

D'Eugenio added, "JWST is so extraordinarily sensitive that we can observe much colder gas than with other telescopes." Detecting gases that had previously been too dark for them to identify and study, the scientists "measured how much gas is being removed from the galaxy, and how fast it is moving; the numbers show clearly that the amount of gas is sufficient to disrupt the normal star-forming activity of this galaxy."

In explaining a great deal about galaxy formation, the new study also raises provocative questions. Cosmologists believe the early universe was teeming with galaxies — perhaps even some filled with alien life. But clearly it didn't take long (on cosmic timescales, at least) for some galaxies to reach the end of their life. Pablo's Galaxy stands out for being dormant despite its large size and advanced age...............

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