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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected unusual red objects that may change how scientists understand the early universe. The faint dots, seen just 500 to 700 million years after the Big Bang, were first thought to be large galaxies, but new research suggests they may be a new type of object powered by black holes.
The objects stand out because of their brightness in red and near-infrared light, which Webb is designed to detect. This light has stretched as the universe expanded, a process known as redshift. Webb’s infrared instruments allow astronomers to see back to some of the earliest periods of cosmic history.
Initial studies suggested the dots were fully developed galaxies packed with stars. That theory soon ran into problems: the brightness was too intense for star clusters alone. A group of researchers now argues these are “black hole stars.” In this model, a massive black hole consumes gas while being surrounded by a cool outer shell, creating the appearance of a giant star.
Unlike ordinary stars, which shine from nuclear fusion, these objects are powered by accretion. Gas falling into the black hole heats up to millions of degrees at the center, but the outer layers remain just a few thousand degrees cooler. This cooler shell produces the red glow detected by Webb.
One striking case, nicknamed “The Cliff,” lies at a redshift of about 3. That means its light traveled nearly 12 billion years before reaching Earth. Webb’s spectrograph broke down the light into its wavelengths, revealing a dense object with the fingerprints of a black hole at its core.
Supermassive black holes sit at the centers of most galaxies today, often billions of times more massive than the Sun. How they grew so quickly in the early universe has remained unclear. Black hole stars may explain this by acting as seeds: black holes rapidly ballooning inside large gas envelopes before collapsing further. This idea echoes theories first suggested in 2008 about quasi-stars.
In the early universe, gas clouds collapsed under gravity. If a black hole formed at the center, it could feed rapidly while the outer shell trapped heat. Webb data shows signs of fast-moving gas, measured through broad emission lines, which suggests active black holes rather than simple star clusters.
The team used Webb’s NIRSpec instrument to capture detailed spectra from thousands of distant objects. More studies are planned to measure gas density and black hole strength. If confirmed, black hole stars could force revisions to current models of galaxy growth.
Astronomers say the findings matter because these objects may reveal how the first galaxies and black holes formed. They are too far away to image directly, but Webb’s sensitivity offers a way to study them indirectly. Researchers add that similar objects may still exist in dusty regions of nearby space, waiting to be found.
