July 28, 2025
In a groundbreaking discovery that is challenging long-held theories of black hole formation, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has unveiled a spectacular and highly unusual celestial object, dubbed the “Infinity Galaxy.” This cosmic marvel, born from the head-on collision of two disk galaxies, harbors not just two active supermassive black holes within its galactic nuclei, but a third, unprecedented black hole seemingly forming directly between them. This finding, observed by a Yale-led astronomy team, offers the strongest evidence yet for the “direct collapse” theory of supermassive black hole birth.
The Infinity Galaxy, named for its distinctive figure-eight or infinity symbol shape, presents a unique cosmic laboratory for scientists to study the extreme conditions under which black holes form and evolve. Traditional theories, known as “light seed” models, propose that black holes grow slowly over billions of years from the remnants of collapsed massive stars. However, the JWST has consistently observed supermassive black holes in the very early universe, posing a significant challenge to this model, as there simply hasn’t been enough time for them to grow to such immense sizes through gradual accretion.
This new discovery, led by Yale astronomer Pieter van Dokkum, provides compelling support for the “heavy seed” theory. This alternative hypothesis suggests that supermassive black holes can form rapidly from the direct collapse of colossal gas clouds. While such collapsing gas clouds typically form stars, the extreme conditions present during a galactic collision, as seen in the Infinity Galaxy, may provide the necessary compression and density for direct black hole formation.
“Everything about this galaxy is unusual,” stated Pieter van Dokkum, lead author of the peer-reviewed paper describing their initial discovery and principal investigator of follow-up Webb observations. “Not only does it look very strange, but it also has this supermassive black hole that’s pulling a lot of material in. The biggest surprise of all was that the black hole was not located inside either of the two nuclei but in the middle. We asked ourselves: How can we make sense of this?”
The JWST’s unparalleled infrared capabilities allowed astronomers to peer through the thick dust and gas shrouding this cosmic event, revealing the intricate details of the Infinity Galaxy. The two merging disk galaxies formed prominent ring structures of stars, while the collision itself shocked and compressed vast swathes of gas between them. It is within this compressed gas, strikingly, that the third, newly forming black hole has been identified.
Follow-up observations with the JWST have confirmed the presence of an extended distribution of ionized gas directly surrounding this central black hole, and critically, the black hole is positioned precisely at the center of the velocity distribution of this gas, as predicted if it formed in situ. This strong correlation between the black hole’s location and the surrounding gas provides crucial “smoking gun” evidence for its direct collapse origin.
Adding to the intrigue, the astronomers also confirmed that both of the original galaxy nuclei within the Infinity Galaxy each host their own active supermassive black holes. This means the system is a rare triple black hole powerhouse, with two pre-existing behemoths and a brand-new one in the making.
This finding carries profound implications for our understanding of the early universe. If direct collapse black holes are indeed forming under such extreme conditions, it could explain the rapid emergence of incredibly massive black holes observed in the first billion years after the Big Bang. Galactic collisions, while rare in the present universe, are thought to have been far more common in the denser, younger cosmos, providing ample opportunities for such events to occur.
The Yale team made this breakthrough using data from the JWST’s extensive COSMOS-Web survey, a program designed to explore the early universe. Further observations from the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, alongside archival data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Array, provided crucial corroborating evidence, confirming the powerful nature of the central black hole and its surrounding dense gas.
While more data and deeper analysis are needed to solidify these conclusions and potentially write them into the textbooks, the discovery of the Infinity Galaxy and its apparent newborn supermassive black hole marks a pivotal moment in astrophysics. It opens up a new cosmic laboratory to study black hole formation and evolution under conditions never before witnessed, providing invaluable insights into the fundamental processes that shaped our universe from its earliest moments.
This monumental discovery promises to reshape our understanding of how the most enigmatic objects in the cosmos come into being and how they have influenced the evolution of galaxies throughout cosmic history. The scientific community eagerly awaits further revelations from the JWST as it continues to push the boundaries of our cosmic knowledge.
