X-ray & Optical Images of GOODS-S 29323 & GOODS-S 33160
Using data from three of NASA's Great Observatories, scientists have found the best evidence to date that supermassive black holes in the early Universe were produced by the direct collapse of a gas cloud. If confirmed, this result could lead to new insight into how black holes were formed and grew billions of years ago. Chandra and Hubble images of one of two candidate seeds, where the properties in the data matched those predicted by sophisticated models produced by researchers of the direct collapse mechanism.
(Credit: NASA/CXC/GSFC/B.Williams et al;)

Black Hole Illustrations
Using data from three of NASA's Great Observatories, scientists have found the best evidence to date that supermassive black holes in the early Universe were produced by the direct collapse of a gas cloud. If confirmed, this result could lead to new insight into how black holes were formed and grew billions of years ago. The artist's illustrations depict a possible "seed" for the formation of a supermassive black hole.
(Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)