Prehistoric Black Hole (Artist's Concept)

This artist's conception illustrates one of the most primitive supermassive black holes known at the core of a young, star-rich galaxy.

Astronomers have uncovered two of these early objects, dating back to about 13 billion years ago. These monstrous black holes are among the most distant known. They appear to be in the very earliest stages of formation, earlier than any observed so far, because they lack dust. Usually, the accretion disk of a black hole becomes surrounded by a dark, dusty structure called a dust torus. But for the primitive black holes, this dust is missing and only gas disks are observed. This is because the early universe was surprisingly clean. Not enough time had passed for molecules to clump together into dust particles, so some black holes forming in this era started out lacking dust.

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Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The images available at Posternauts.com have been curated from the thousands of photographs taken and collected by NASA/JPL, the Hubble Space Telescope, and other space agencies. We are able to offer these images to you in print form because they are available in the public domain. If you are interested in viewing even more images and exploring the science and discoveries they represent, you will enjoy visiting the following web pages for more.

HubbleSite - News, Images and more from the Hubble Space Telescope

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Space Mission and Science news, Videos, and Images

SpaceX - Exciting images of launches, vehicles, and more.

European Space Agency - Dedicated to the exploration of Space since 1975

European Southern Observatory - Home of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in northern Chile.

James Webb Space Telescope - Follow the progress of this project still in development

Posternauts prints are available on three types of media, framed and unframed. Listed below for your information are the specifications for these materials.

Matte Paper
Our matte paper produces images that are vivid and vibrant, the perfect solution for museum quality photographic and fine art works.
• 10 mil thick, durable, matte paper
• Archival quality and acid free

Photo Paper
In between a gloss and matte finish, our photo paper provides you with highly saturated, maximum ink coverage. Because of its saturation and resistance to fingerprints, luster paper is a popular choice for photographic prints.
• 10 mil thick, durable, slightly glossy paper
• Archival quality and acid free
• Fingerprint resistant

Canvas
Photo-quality prints can be made into eye-popping art.
A statement piece and artwork all in one, and the depth of the canvas adds a dimension to a room.
• 20.5 mil thick canvas, 470gsm
• Mounting brackets included - centered on frame
• Hand-stretched with matte-finish coating
• Hand glued solid wood stretcher bars
• Printed on textured and fade-resistant canvas (OBA-Free)
• 1.5" deep profile

Frames
A frame can be added to any matte paper or photo paper poster order to protect your print and help you hang your order quickly and easily.
• Lightweight, semi-hardwood, made from Alder, black in color
• 0.75” thick frame border
• Acrylite front protector
• Hanging hardware attached