NASA’s Webb Finds Possible ‘Direct Collapse’ Black Hole

Researchers diving into data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have stumbled upon a fascinating cosmic object, affectionately dubbed the Infinity Galaxy, while sifting through the COSMOS-Web survey. This galaxy boasts a unique shape, featuring two compact red nuclei encircled by rings that evoke the infinity symbol. The brains behind this discovery, Pieter van Dokkum from Yale University and Gabriel Brammer from the University of Copenhagen, suspect that this striking structure emerged from a direct collision between two disk galaxies.

Further observations unveiled that the Infinity Galaxy houses an active supermassive black hole nestled between the two nuclei, in a vast region brimming with gas. The team theorizes that this black hole might have come into existence through the direct collapse of a gas cloud, a notion that could provide insights into how massive black holes formed in the early universe. The Infinity Galaxy is marked by two star rings and vibrant areas of ionized gas, which glow green, surrounding the black hole, estimated to weigh in at about one million suns.

Pieter van Dokkum shared the importance of their findings, highlighting the galaxy's unusual characteristics and its central black hole. What's particularly intriguing is the black hole's unexpected position; it doesn't sit within either nucleus but rather right in between them. This could signify the birth of a supermassive black hole, a phenomenon that hasn't been documented before. The formation of these colossal black holes remains a puzzle, with two primary theories in play: "light seeds" and "heavy seeds."

The light seed theory posits that smaller black holes form from dying stars that gradually merge, while the heavy seed theory suggests a large black hole can form rapidly from collapsing gas clouds. The latter is more efficient but comes with its own set of challenges, as collapsing gas usually leads to star formation rather than black holes. Nevertheless, the researchers believe that the collision of the two galaxies may have created the perfect conditions for a black hole to form through gas compression.

Reference

by Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University and Gabriel Brammer of the University of Copenhagen. NASA’s Webb Finds Possible ‘Direct Collapse’ Black Hole.

NASA.gov Available at- https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/webb/2025/07/15/nasas-webb-finds-possible-direct-collapse-black-hole/

(Assessed: 17th July 2025)