The JWST Has Spotted Giant Black Holes All Over the Early Universe

Dec. 1, 2023
JWST Black Hole

The young cosmos is home to a mystifyingly large population of tempestuous galaxies with large black holes at their cores. COURTESY OF JORRYT MATTHEE.

DATA FROM THE EIGER/FRESCO SURVEY

Giant black holes were supposed to be bit players in the early cosmic story. But James Webb Space Telescope observations are finding an unexpected abundance of the beasts.

 

 

“Everybody is talking about these little red dots,” said Xiaohui Fan, a researcher at the University of Arizona who has spent his career searching for distant objects in the early universe. Learn more