This is How Supermassive Black Holes Feed Themselves

This composite image of NGC 4696 in the Centaurus Cluster contains data from the Hubble, the Chandra X-ray telescope, and the JST. In new research, the JWST showed that an unusual swirl within the sphere of influence of the galaxy's SMBH is connected to a larger network of gaseous filaments. This could be the missing link between black hole accretion and the flow of cool gas that feeds it. Image Credit: Hlavacek-Larrondo et al. 2026.

Astronomers may have found the missing link in the SMBH feeding process. New observations with the JWST show that a galaxy’s circumnuclear disk, which feeds gas into its black hole, is connected to a much larger network of filaments. Cool gas flows through these filaments into the SMBH’s sphere of influence.

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