JWST data reveal possible new object type: a 'black hole star'
Two astronomy teams using the James Webb Space Telescope reported in spring 2025 that they observed a pair of 'little red dots' unlike any previously seen objects, including other little red dots found since 2023. Researchers led by Anna de Graaff at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy propose these are a new kind of object: a vast, puffed-up cloud of hydrogen gas that shines as brightly as billions of suns while concealing a supermassive black hole at its center, which they call a 'black hole star.'
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If confirmed, this could add an entirely new category to the catalog of early-universe objects, potentially reshaping theories of how supermassive black holes and galaxies formed in the first billion years after the Big Bang. The finding also underscores how JWST's infrared sensitivity is uncovering phenomena that ground-based telescopes could never detect, suggesting more surprises may await as scientists reexamine the broader population of little red dots.
- JWST spotted two unusual 'little red dots' that differ from thousands of similar objects already cataloged.
- Scientists propose these are a new object type, a 'black hole star,' combining a hydrogen envelope with a hidden black hole core.
- The discovery could challenge existing models of early-universe black hole and galaxy formation, pending further confirmation.
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Published there as: “Inside the Supermassive Debate Over the James Webb Telescope’s ‘Little Red Dots’”
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