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<\/p>\nWhen the James Webb Space Telescope sent back its first images of the cosmos, astronomers were stunned to find tiny red points scattered across the early universe. Since 2022, astronomers have been trying to determine what these so-called \u201clittle red dots\u201d (LRDs) are. They\u2019ve finally figured it out: LRDs are young black holes.<\/p>\n
Some researchers suggested that the dots might be very early galaxies because they emitted light. But galaxy formation appears to be a very slow process. The LRDs appear only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang and then disappear a billion years later. The galaxies wouldn\u2019t have had time to grow large and bright enough to be easily visible. Furthermore, their deep red color doesn\u2019t match the expected emissions from starlight alone.<\/p>\n
Over the last two years, astronomers from the Niels Bohr Institute\u2019s Cosmic Dawn Center in Copenhagen analyzed the dots using spectroscopy. They found that 70% of them show evidence of rapidly orbiting gas.<\/p>\n
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Little red dots appear in multiple JWST images. Photo: Darach Watson\/JWST<\/p>\n
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Clouds of gas<\/p>\n
Dense clouds of gas surround the dots, and as gas spirals into the LRDs, it heats up and releases energy, producing bright light that the JWST detects as red.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe little red dots are young black holes, a hundred times less massive than previously believed, enshrouded in a cocoon of gas, which they are consuming to grow larger,\u201d says co-author of the new study,<\/a> Darach Watson. \u201cThis process generates enormous heat, which shines through the cocoon. This radiation\u2026gives little red dots their unique red color.\u201d<\/p>\n