Overview

• An international team led by the University of Southampton studied a quasar about 12 billion light-years away.
• Using GRAVITY+ at ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers combined four telescopes to map gas motion near the nucleus.
• The direct kinematic measurement indicates the central black hole’s mass is roughly one-tenth of earlier indirect estimates.
• Observations reveal strong outflows and a spiral of hot gas of about 800 million solar masses, with much of the inflow expelled rather than accreted.
• The peer-reviewed study in Astronomy & Astrophysics argues common early-universe methods likely overestimate masses, prompting calls for reassessment with further targets.