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Infinity Galaxy:A pair of galaxies that look like the symbol ∞

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The Infinity Galaxy (∞ Galaxy) is an interacting galaxy pair observed by James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as part of COSMOS-Web Survey. The galaxy is named due to its distinctive shape which resembles the Infinity Symbol (∞). The 2025 discovery is credited to astronomers Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University and Gabriel Brammer of the University of Copenhagen. This discovery provides significant insights into galactic mergers and the formation of supermassive black holes, particularly through the direct collapse mechanism.

The redshift of the Infinity Galaxy was measured to be z=1.14 (8.3 billion light-years from Earth) by fitting emission lines.

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The Infinity Galaxy was identified in 2025 through archival data from JWST's COSMOS-Web survey, a large-scale program designed to map the structure of the early universe. The galaxy's unique morphology was first noted in infrared images captured by JWST's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), with light represented at 0.9 microns (blue), 1.15 and 1.5 microns (green), and 2.0 microns (red). Archival observations of the COSMOS-Web field from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO) and the Very Large Array (VLA) and new Keck/LRIS spectra confirmed the presence of an active supermassive black hole between the two nuclei.

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The Infinity Galaxy is characterized by two compact, red nuclei, each surrounded by a ring of stars and gas, forming a figure-eight (8) or infinity-symbol (∞) shape, from the two ring galaxies. This structure is attributed to a head-on collision of two disk galaxies, which compressed gas clouds and triggered tidal forces, creating the observed rings. The collision is estimated to have occurred approximately 50 million years ago, based on the relative velocities of the galactic remnants.

A vast expanse of ionized hydrogen gas, glowing green in JWST images, lies between the two nuclei, hosting a supermassive black hole. This central black hole, with a mass of approximately 1 million solar masses, is notable for its location outside the galactic nuclei, a rare configuration in galactic mergers.