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In a remarkable discovery that could reshape our understanding of black hole formation, astronomers have identified what may be the first newborn supermassive black hole ever observed. The finding, described in a recent blog post and an upcoming scientific publication, centers on a uniquely-shaped system dubbed the “Infinity Galaxy,” located billions of light-years from Earth.
This galaxy’s unusual figure-eight structure—captured in stunning detail using multiple observatories—points to a violent galactic collision. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) provided infrared imaging revealing two bright rings of stars and gas, likely the remnants of two galaxies that merged. At the heart of each ring is a bright yellow-white core: the galaxies’ original centers.
But it’s what lies between these two galactic cores that has scientists excited.
Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers detected high-energy X-ray emissions indicating the presence of a growing supermassive black hole—possibly in its infancy. Supporting data from the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) revealed a dense cloud of gas between the two galactic centers, suggesting that the black hole may not reside in either galaxy’s original core, as is typically expected.
“This may be the first time we’re seeing a supermassive black hole being born—not shortly after the Big Bang, but much later in cosmic history,” said Pieter van Dokkum, lead author of the study from Yale University. “If confirmed, this could have major implications for how and when these giant black holes form.”
The composite image combining Chandra’s X-ray data (purple) with JWST’s infrared imaging (red, green, and blue) offers a detailed look at this cosmic interaction. X-ray emissions appear as a purple cloud stretching between the two galactic centers, while the infrared data clearly show the double-ring structure that gives the Infinity Galaxy its name.
A preprint of the paper, which has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, is already available online. In addition to van Dokkum, co-authors include Gabriel Brammer (University of Copenhagen), Josephine F.W. Baggen, Michael Keim, Priyamvada Natarajan, and Imad Pasha (all of Yale University). A separate paper led by van Dokkum using more recent JWST data is also under review.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra X-ray Observatory program, while the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center oversees science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
The image features a pair of distant galaxies forming a loose figure-eight shape, tilted at a 45-degree angle. Two glowing, overlapping rings—one at the upper right, the other at the lower left—shine with bright blue highlights. Each ring contains a luminous yellow center, representing the original galactic nuclei. A soft green patch of glowing gas appears between the rings, offset slightly left, and a purple cloud of X-rays flows across the entire scene, hinting at the dynamic and energetic environment where a black hole may be forming.