Astronomers Detect an Unusual New Cosmic Object

Astronomers have detected an unusual cosmic object that emits light as brightly as a star but has energy characteristics typical of black holes. “Black hole star” this object, known as a Nature journal reported in a study published by an international team of scientists.

NASA’s James Webb space telescope while analyzing images of the early Universe. MoM-BH-1* is located in the constellation Cetus and, according to calculations, formed approximately 660 million years after the Big Bang.

Researchers initially assumed it was a giant red star. However, the object’s extremely high energy output did not fit this hypothesis. Calculations showed that it emits up to 100 billion times more energy than known stars.

Computer modeling, meanwhile, showed that MoM-BH*-1 is not an ordinary star. Scientists believe it is a black hole surrounded by a dense layer of gas, whose intense radiation makes the object appear star-like from the outside.

Researchers also found that its light is almost entirely red and disappears sharply beyond a certain wavelength. These features distinguish the object from other known cosmic bodies.

If the research findings are confirmed by further observations, James Webb may show that many other mysterious “little red dots” detected by the telescope are also black hole stars.

Scientists believe that such objects played an important role in the formation of galaxies in the early Universe and may have paved the way for the emergence of the supermassive black holes at the centers of today’s galaxies.