Scientists have long believed that all large galaxies harbor colossal supermassive black holes at their centers. This means that the failure to detect such a cosmic giant at the center of the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, also known as Messier 83 (M83), has become an unpleasant mystery.
Now, however, using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers may have solved the mystery, discovering the first evidence of a supermassive black hole at the center of M83, also called NGC 5236, a spiral galaxy about 15 million light-years away.
“JWST is revolutionizing our understanding of galaxies,” said Linda Smith, a team member at the Space Telescope Science Institute, in a statement. “For years, astronomers have tried unsuccessfully to find a black hole in M83. Now we finally have compelling evidence that one may actually be there.”
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