The JWST Little Red Dots Could Be 'Black Hole Stars'

These could explain the SMBH found so early in the Universe by the JWST. Image Credit: Rohan Naidu (University of Hawai’i)" height="720" src="https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/BH_star_1_20260817_163102.jpg" width="1280" />

Little red dots have puzzled astronomers since their discovery in JWST data from the Universe’s deep past.

Their ‘powering engines’ might resemble a newly discovered phenomenon dubbed a “black hole star”—an early, rapidly growing black hole wrapped in dense gas.

This object, described in a study published today in Nature by researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and international collaborators, may help explain how billion-solar-mass black holes formed so soon after the Big Bang.