Ancient black hole sheds new light on Webbs Little Red Dots

Date:
Sun, 31 May 2026 23:36:19 +0000

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Using the joint NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope, an international team The post Ancient black hole sheds new light on Webbs Little Red Dots appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

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Using the joint NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers has performed the first direct measurement of a supermassive black hole in the early universe. A pair of recently published studies investigating this black hole provide new insight into the nature of the elusive little red dots (LRD), which Webb discovered early in its science campaign.



This is a phenomenal result, said Roberto Maiolino of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, co-author for both studies. It is the first direct measurement of a black hole mass within the first billion years after the Big Bang, and it is consistent with the previous measurements.

The studied LRD, known as Abell2744-QSO1 (QSO1), existed 700 million years after the Big Bang. Before reaching Webbs infrared sensors, its light traversed the universe for 13 billion years. The object itself measures 1,300 light-years across, which is only a small fraction of the size of the Milky Way galaxy. Little Red Dot Abell2744-QSO1 imaged by Webbs NIRCam instrument. (Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/L. Furtak (Ben-Gurion University)/R. Maiolino (Cambridge)/F. DEugenio (Cambridge)/I. Juodbalis (Cambridge)/H. bler (MPE)/C. Marconcini (University of Florence). Image processing: A. Pagan)

From Earths perspective, QSO1 appears behind galaxy cluster Abell 2744, also known as Pandoras Cluster. The cluster acts as a gravitational lens, a phenomenon in which light bends as it travels near massive objects. This effect not only magnifies the little red dot, but also projects its image three times, in different positions. See Also JWST Mission Updates Space Science Coverage NSF Shop Click Here to Join L2

Aided by the gravitational lensing, the team used the integral field unit (IFU) of Webbs Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument to map the rotation of gas inside the LRD. The map revealed Keplerian rotation, in which the gas orbits a central point.

This is important because it tells us that most of the mass of QSO1 is concentrated in the black hole at the center, said Ignas Juodbalis of the University of Florence in Italy, co-lead on one of the studies. If the mass were more distributed, as it would be if there were a lot of stars, the gas would not have this perfect Keplerian rotation.

Using the rotation, the team calculated the mass of the black hole at 50 million times the mass of the Sun, or two-thirds of the LRDs total mass. Meanwhile, the other study, led by Maiolino, analyzed the material
surrounding the black hole and found that it consists almost completely of hydrogen and helium. Webbs NIRCam image of QSO1, with rotation velocities calculated from Webbs NIRSpec observations overlaid. (Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/L. Furtak (Ben-Gurion University)/R. Maiolino (Cambridge)/F. DEugenio (Cambridge)/I. Juodbalis (Cambridge)/H. bler (MPE)/C. Marconcini (University of Florence). Image processing: A. Pagan)

The two studies raise questions about the black holes origin. The LRDs extremely low metallicity a measure of the presence of components other than hydrogen and helium and the proportion of mass taken up by the black hole, suggest regular black hole formation mechanisms cannot have resulted in the measured object. Instead, the black hole might not have emerged inside the LRD.

The team believes only two scenarios can explain the supermassive black hole inside QSO1. First, it could be a primordial black hole, which would have formed within seconds after the Big Bang. Alternatively, the black hole could have formed from a pristine cloud of gas collapsing, in a scenario known as a direct-collapse black hole.

It seems that we have found a black hole that does not have a substantial
host galaxy and that has predated stellar processes, said Juodbalis. This is very exciting because it is evidence for primordial black holes or direct collapse black holes, which have been theorized but not confirmed.

Astronomers have studied different scenarios to explain LRDs since their discovery in 2024. One possible explanation is that of a black hole star, a theorized type of star-like object consisting of a supermassive black hole surrounded by a thick shell of gas. Instead of being powered by nuclear
fusion like regular stars, the shell of gas is lit up by the energy released as the central black hole consumes, or accretes, material.

A study published in March provided possible evidence for the black hole
star scenario, using observations from multiple observatories, including
Webb, Hubble, and NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory. The telescopes
investigated an astronomical object that emits a strong X-ray signal. While regular LRDs do not produce any X-ray signal, the objects other properties show strong similarities with LRDs.

While the outer layers of a black hole star would be dense enough to block
the X-ray signal produced by the supermassive black hole at its center, the black hole could eventually accrete enough of the surrounding gas to allow X-rays to escape. In this scenario, the X-ray dot would be an LRD in the
final stages of its evolution.

Together, all these studies paint an increasingly clear picture of the nature of Webbs little red dots. Whats more, the new studies focusing on QSO1 also provide new insights into the origins of some of the universes most massive objects.

This is a remarkable finding, said co-author Roberto Maiolino of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. Its a paradigm shift, a total revisiting of the classical scenarios of how black holes form and grow.

Juodbalis & Marconcini et al.s study of QSO1 was published in the journal Nature on May 27, 2026.

Maiolino et al.s study of QSO1 was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on April 6, 2026.

Hviding et al.s study of an X-Ray Dot was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on March 16, 2026.

(Lead image: Little Red Dot Abell2744-QSO1 as seen by Webb. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/I. Labbe (Swinburne University of Technology)/R. Bezanson (University of Pittsburgh)/A. Pagan (STScI))



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/05/webb-abell2744-qso1/


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