A breathtaking photograph taken by a Yale-led astronomy team may have documented an unprecedented cosmic event: the birth of a supermassive black hole. This rare phenomenon, potentially the first of its kind ever observed, offers a glimpse into one of the universe’s most enigmatic processes.

Supermassive black holes, with masses ranging from millions to tens of billions of times that of our Sun, anchor the centers of nearly all galaxies, serving as gravitational hubs around which stars and planets orbit. While their role in galaxies is well understood, their origins have remained a mystery—until now. The discovery, reported by Science Alert, involves a pair of colliding galaxies whose light traveled 8.3 million years to reach us, revealing a dramatic scene in a galaxy dubbed “Infinity” for its figure-eight shape.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, the team observed two recently merged galaxies, each hosting a supermassive black hole at its core. A third black hole was spotted glowing at the point where the galaxies overlap, an unusual location that suggests something extraordinary. Unlike typical supermassive black holes found at galactic centers, this one appears to have formed amid the chaotic collision, within a dense cloud of gas at the merger’s heart.

“We think we’re witnessing the birth of a supermassive black hole—something that has never been seen before,” said Yale astronomer Pieter van Dokkum. This observation could reshape our understanding of how these cosmic giants come to be.

Current theories about black hole formation include the “light seeds” hypothesis, which posits that small black holes form from the collapsed cores of exploded stars and gradually merge into supermassive ones. However, this idea has been challenged by discoveries of ancient supermassive black holes that formed too early in the universe’s history for such mergers to account for their size. An alternative, the “heavy seeds” theory, suggests that supermassive black holes can emerge directly from the collapse of massive gas clouds—a process typically associated with star formation but capable, under extreme conditions, of birthing a black hole.

The Infinity galaxy’s collision, with its unique conditions, may provide evidence for the “heavy seeds” theory, showing how a gas cloud collapse during a galactic merger could spawn a supermassive black hole. The team’s findings, still under investigation, could confirm this mechanism and shed light on the origins of these galactic powerhouses.

As researchers continue to analyze the data, this stunning image of the Infinity galaxy marks a potential milestone in astronomy, offering a rare window into the violent and mysterious processes that shape the universe.