This view of about 0.15 square degrees of space reveals many regions with large numbers of galaxies clustered together in clumps and filaments, with large gaps, or voids, separating them. Each point of light is a supermassive black hole, revealing just how ubiquitous these cosmic objects are. This region of space is known as the ECDFS, as it images the same portion of the sky imaged previously by the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: a pioneering X-ray view of the same space. The earliest supermassive black holes observed are more “grown up” than we expect, a problem calling out for a physical solution. (Credit: NASA/Spitzer/S-CANDELS; Ashby et al. (2015); Kai Noeske)
Such massive, early supermassive black holes have puzzled astronomers for decades. At last, we’ve finally figured out how they form.
What would you see if you could look into the past of every human being on Earth and see them as they were when they were 5 years old? You’d…
