On the left of this image is an illustration of an orange and red swirling disk with a black spot in its center, inside a hazy blue cloud of gas. On the right are two images: An x-ray image showing two hazy blue spots, and an optical image showing multiple bright orange objects.

NASA Telescopes Find Clues For How Giant Black Holes Formed So Quickly.jpg

This illustration represents the best evidence to date that the direct collapse of a gas cloud produced supermassive black holes in the early Universe. Researchers combined data from NASA’s Chandra, Hubble, and Spitzer telescopes to make this discovery.

Credits: NASA/CXC/STScI