James Webb Space Telescope finds evidence the mysterious 'little red dots' are black hole stars

Key Points:

• Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have studied a "little red dot" object, GLIMPSE-17775, finding strong evidence it is a black hole star— a rapidly growing supermassive black hole enveloped in dense gas.
• Little red dots appeared in large numbers about 600 million years after the Big Bang but disappear before 2 billion years, and one leading theory is that they are black hole stars undergoing intense, short-lived growth phases.
• JWST observations of GLIMPSE-17775, aided by gravitational lensing from galaxy cluster Abell S1063, provided the deepest spectrum of a little red dot to date, revealing emission lines consistent with a dense gas cocoon and high-energy output expected from a feeding black hole.
• The data showed spectral features such as electron scattering, fluorescence, helium absorption, and an "iron forest," supporting the black hole star model and explaining why little red dots are faint in X-rays due to gas absorption.
• Although GLIMPSE-17775 lacks a strong Balmer Break typically seen in little red dots, this is attributed to its massive host galaxy, and researchers remain optimistic about confirming the nature of these objects in the near future.