The JWST's observing power has shown the presence of organic molecules near black holes. That wasn't supposed to be possible.
The molecules in this study are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons . They’re important building blocks for prebiotic compounds. Those compounds may have played a role in the early formation of life. But they’re not only attractive to scientists because of their connection to life. When PAHs are illuminated with optical and UV radiation from stars, they get excited and are very bright in infrared emission bands. So observing them tells astronomers a lot about conditions inside the galaxy.
Throught the lifetime of a galaxy, it’ll undergo multiple processes that alter its structure and morphology. These include the formation of galactic bulges and disks, and the end of active star formation. They also include gas inflow, which drives the formation of spiral arms. The main event that drives galaxy evolution is probably mergers with other galaxies.
But thanks to the power of the JWST and this research team, we now know that’s not true. The researchers think the PAHs can survive near the black holes because there might be a large amount of molecular gas near the galactic nucleus.
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