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The breakthrough, published in the journal Science in June 2026, was achieved by an international team led by Andrew Newman of Carnegie Science and senior-authored by Richard Ellis, a professor of physics and astronomy at University College London.
Measuring a silent giant
Because of the time it takes light to travel across the cosmos, astronomers are observing this object, located in the galaxy MRG-M0138, as it appeared when the universe was just 3 billion years old — about a quarter of its current age.
To calculate its mass at such an immense distance, the research team relied on stellar dynamics. This technique tracks the orbital speeds of stars at varying distances from a galaxy’s core; stars close to a massive, invisible object move faster than those farther out. While scientists previously used this method to measure the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, it had never been applied at such an extreme cosmological distance. The previous record for a stellar dynamical measurement stood at approximately 700 million light years.
Stellar motions at 10 billion light years are usually too faint to detect. The team bypassed this physical limitation by utilizing an intermediate galaxy situated in between Earth and MRG-M0138. The intervening galaxy’s gravity acts as a natural magnifying glass, a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, which boosted the light from MRG-M0138 by a factor of 30. The James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRSpec instrument then mapped the precise velocities of stars across the magnified image. Newman noted that combining Webb’s resolution with gravitational lensing allowed the team to peer directly inside the black hole’s sphere of influence.
A galaxy forced into retirement
Astronomers classify this black hole as quiescent, or dormant, because it is no longer actively drawing in gas or emitting detectable radiation. This sets it apart from quasars, highly active galactic nuclei that rank among the brightest objects in the universe. A quiescent black hole remains invisible, revealing its presence only through its gravitational pull on surrounding stars.
Interestingly, the host galaxy has also gone quiet, having ceased all star formation. Newman and his colleagues propose that the energy released during the black hole’s initial, rapid growth phase may have violently expelled the free gas required to birth new stars. This suggests that MRG-M0138 likely hosted a brilliant quasar in its beginnings before permanently falling silent.
Ellis emphasized the broader potential of the breakthrough, noting that the approach can now support a more comprehensive census of how black holes evolve over cosmic time. The research team expects future observations with the Webb telescope to uncover more inactive black holes from the early universe, which could help answer a fundamental question: whether these dormant giants can reactivate if a fresh supply of matter begins flowing into them again.
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