First the black hole, then the galaxy: James Webb has just upended what we thought was the Universe’s established order

JWST observations of the tiny galaxy Abell 2744-QSO1 point to a black hole about 50 million times the Sun’s mass.

Gravitational lensing by the Abell 2744 cluster and infrared spectroscopy revealed fast gas motion consistent with a massive central object.

Researchers from Cambridge and Florence say the black hole may have formed extremely soon after the Big Bang, possibly before its host galaxy.

If confirmed, the finding would upend the usual picture that galaxies form first and central black holes grow later.