Tuesday, July 22, 2025

The JWST Might Have Found the First Direct-Collapse Black Hole

This is an image from the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam overlayed with a contour map of data from the Very Large Array radio telescope. It shows the 'Infinity Galaxy,' named because it looks like the symbol for infinity. It has two very compact nuclei formed by a collision between two galaxies. It also has a supermassive black hole in between them. Could it be a direct-collapse black hole? Image Credit:

Stellar mass black holes are created by core-collapse supernovae. These occur when massive stars near the end of their lives collapse in on themselves and form a black hole. Supermassive black holes form through mergers with other massive black holes. But their could be a third kind, called direct-collapse black holes, and the JWST found evidence of one.



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