Supermassive black holes may predate the galaxies they inhabit, solving a cosmic mystery
By
Leah Crane
Summary
This article explores the long-standing cosmological question of whether galaxies or their supermassive black holes came first. Drawing on Samuel Butler's philosophical analogy about hens and eggs, the author presents evidence that supermassive black holes may predate the galaxies they inhabit. The piece discusses the symbiotic relationship between galaxies and their central black holes, where galaxies feed the black holes while black holes shape galactic evolution. The article suggests that recent observations and research point toward black holes being the "seed" from which galaxies grow, potentially solving this cosmic chicken-or-egg problem.
Source
Twitter / XSupermassive black holes may predate the galaxies they inhabit, solving a cosmic mysterynewscientist.comKey quotes
· 3 pulledIf, as novelist-philosopher Samuel Butler wrote in 1878, 'a hen is only an egg's way of making another egg', then a galaxy may only be a black hole's way of making another black hole.
Every massive galaxy we've ever seen, across the entire universe, has a supermassive black hole at its centre.
The two are inextricably linked: all the stuff of the galaxy feeds the black hole, which, in turn, shapes the galaxy's evolution.
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