‘Red Nuggets’ are Galactic Gold for Astronomers

Client: NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory
Date: 2018
Caption: Astronomers using Chandra found that black holes may have squelched star formation in small, yet massive galaxies known as “red nuggets”. These are relics of the first massive galaxies that formed within only one billion years after the Big Bang, some of which have avoided merging with other galaxies throughout cosmic time.This illustration depicts the central black hole in these galaxies, which helps determine how many stars have formed there.
Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss
Link: https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2018/mrk1216/