Astronomers have discovered a possible ‘black hole star’ in the early universe, with a massive black hole hidden inside dense gas
Astronomers have identified an unusual object from the early universe, which may represent a possible early stage of a supermassive black hole. It’s called MoM-BH*-1 and was observed using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope about 660 million years after the Big Bang. It appears very red and compact, but its light shows an unusual mix of features associated with both stars and active black holes. Researchers say the best explanation for this object is that it is a supermassive black hole surrounded by an extremely dense, turbulent envelope of gas.The gas creates strong Balmer fracture and absorption features that make it appear different from a regular star or familiar active galaxy. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology described the possible formation as a “black hole star,” while the study was published in the journal “Nature” with the title “A black hole covered in gas and reddened with gas at cosmic dawn“, formally presents it as a gas-covered, gas-reddened black hole. The discovery could also provide clues about the mysterious small red dots seen by the James Webb Space Telescope. It may provide clues about how some black holes grew so quickly in the early universe.
A possible “black hole star” in the early universe may have been a black hole hidden inside dense gas
The research indicates that the supermassive black hole is surrounded by a dense envelope of gas. The radiation falling toward the black hole provides energy, while the gas absorbs, scatters and re-emits that light. The researchers found that ordinary stars cannot reproduce a deep Balmer fracture. Their models required very dense hydrogen gas with little dust to reproduce the observed spectrum and infrared emission. The study describes this modeling as simplistic, so it does not prove all the details of the proposed structure. Instead, it shows that a gas-shrouded black hole can explain the spectral features. The source appears partially star-like while being fed by a black hole, creating the appearance that MIT researchers describe as a possible “black hole star.”
The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted an unusual object 660 million years after the Big Bang
The object is interesting because it may be related to the tiny red dots discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope in the early universe. These red sources show clusters of broad emission lines and other spectral features that have been difficult to interpret. The study suggests that MoM-BH*-1 could serve as a template for the black hole component of some tiny red dots. If a similar black hole covered in gas existed inside a young, star-forming galaxy, the light might produce a compressed red appearance. The researchers stress that this is a suggested explanation, and not a definitive definition of each little red dot. This discovery gives astronomers a scenario they can test with additional observations and may help explain why these objects appear in JWST space images.
MoM-BH*-1 has an unusually strong Palmer fracture and deep absorption features
MoM-BH*-1 stood out because its spectrum has an exceptionally strong Balmer fraction, where its light dips sharply over a specific wavelength range. The study indicates that the fracture strength is about 7.7, which exceeds the maximum expected for normal dust-free star clusters. The body also shows broad emission of Hβ and profound uptake of Hβ and Hγ. These absorption features indicate the presence of very dense gas around the central source. The researchers modeled the object using a black hole surrounded by dense, turbulent hydrogen gas, and found that this arrangement could reproduce key spectral features. The modeling also requires a very small amount of dust, supporting the idea that gas, not dust, is responsible for making the black hole appear unusually red.
How could a gas-shrouded black hole provide clues to the mysterious tiny red dots on the James Webb Space Telescope?
This discovery is also important for the question of how supermassive black holes grow in the young universe. The paper suggests that MoM-BH*-1 may represent an early-growing black hole surrounded by dense gas, a configuration that may allow rapid accretion, perhaps an Eddington super. The study’s models estimate that the mass of the central black hole is about 10^6 to 10^7 times the mass of the Sun. The source appears to have a host galaxy, but the black hole dominates almost all of the light detected from the object. Their formation remains an important question, but future observations of similar objects could help determine whether gas-shrouded black holes were an important pathway for rapid black hole growth in the early universe.
