Little red dots solved
For years, astronomers have puzzled over a peculiar population of objects discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope — faint, red objects from the early universe dubbed 'little red dots.' Now, using Webb's NIRCam and NIRSpec instruments, University of Texas at Austin astronomer Vasily Kokorev and his colleagues have obtained the deepest spectrum ever taken of one such object, GLIMPSE-17775, located behind the galaxy cluster Abell S1063.
Black hole stars explained
The data points to these objects being 'black hole stars' — a theoretical type of star that forms when a small black hole becomes embedded in a massive star's core, consuming it from within and providing energy that prevents gravitational collapse. Unlike ordinary stars that fuse hydrogen into helium, black hole stars are powered by accretion energy from the central black hole, allowing them to grow to enormous sizes.
Implications for early galaxy formation
If confirmed, black hole stars could explain several mysteries about the early universe, including how supermassive black holes grew so quickly after the Big Bang and why some early galaxies appear brighter than expected. The research represents a major step toward understanding the universe's first 500 million years.