The universe might be inside a black hole - study

Black holes are one of the more mysterious parts of the known universe and now a study is saying that we may be living inside one.

In a study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Kansas State University associate professor of computer science Lior Shamir analyzed images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope of 263 galaxies and found that two-thirds of early galaxies spin clockwise, while the other third rotates counter-clockwise.

This evidence that there may be a preferred direction for galactic rotation is a challenge to previous positions held by scientists. Scientists had previously posited that in a random universe, 50 percent of galaxies would be spinning one way while the other 50 percent would be spinning in the opposite direction.

In a statement released by the Kansas State University, Shamir said that this evidence supports black hole cosmology, a theory that states the entire universe is the interior of a black hole.

“It is still not clear what causes this to happen, but there are two primary possible explanations," he said. "One explanation is that the universe was born rotating. That explanation agrees with theories such as black hole cosmology, which postulates that the entire universe is the interior of a black hole.

Space.com also notes that this finding could also imply that “each and every black hole in our universe could be the doorway to another 'baby universe” and that black holes could be located in another bigger parent universe.

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This is just the latest scientific discovery that has been made possible by the James Webb Space Telescope. Back in 2023, the telescope obtained data on “teenage galaxies”, which are galaxies that are further along in development compared to the earlier galaxies that the James Webb telescope had first observed since becoming operational. These teenage galaxies are galaxies that formed 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang and are still growing.

The James Webb Space Telescope is just one of the pieces of technology conducting studies in space. Just last month, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that they would be sending the Lunar Trailblazer orbiter to the moon to head to the lunar poles to find whether significant amounts of water ice exist there. The mission to find water on the moon comes after previous measurements of the lunar surface have found the presence of some water.

Scientists have also discovered carbon and water on samples collected from the asteroid Bennu. The samples were collected by the US space probe OSIRIS-Rex, which was launched in 2016 to harvest samples from the asteroid.