Chandra X-ray & Hubble Optical Images of Mrk 1216
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. These images show the Chandra data and the Hubble data of one of the galaxies in the latest study, MRK 1216.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MTA-Eötvös University/N. Werner et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI)

Illustration of a Black Hole
This illustration depicts the central black hole in these above mentioned galaxies, which helps determine how many stars have formed there.
(Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)