Scientists have been amazed to discover an ancient and ‘nearly naked’ black hole at the very furthest reaches of the universe.

This ancient void dates back to 600 to 700 million years after the Big Bang, but may have been formed in the very earliest moments of the universe.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), researchers have discovered that this strange object contains 50 million times as much mass as our sun.

That is far larger than any black hole should be so early in the universe, sparking suggestions that this could be an elusive ‘primordial black hole’.

Scientists believe that black holes form when massive stars collapse and explode at the end of their lives.

However, primordial black holes may have formed directly out of the swirling sea of matter right at the beginning of time.

If this theory is proven correct, it could change everything scientists believe about the formation of the cosmos and the fundamental laws of physics.

Co-author Professor Roberto Maiolino, of the University of Cambridge, told The Daily Mail: ‘In this scenario, black holes would be the first entities formed in the universe, well before the formation of the first stars and first galaxies.’

Scientists may have made the first direct measurements of a primordial black hole, which formed in the first few moments after the Big Bang, by examining a 'Little Red Dot' spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope (pictured)

Scientists may have made the first direct measurements of a primordial black hole, which formed in the first few moments after the Big Bang, by examining a ‘Little Red Dot’ spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope (pictured)

By gathering very faint light that has travelled through space for billions of years, the JWST is allowing scientists to peer back further in time than ever before.

At the very limits of what we can currently see are a group of objects known as the ‘Little Red Dots’.

These extremely small pinpricks of light formed during the ‘Epoch of Reionisation’, the billion-year period when light from the first stars was able to shine through the fog of the early universe.

Since red dots are so compact and so bright, scientists believed they must either be dense clusters of stars or ancient supermassive black holes.

Using JWST, Professor Maiolino and his co-authors carefully examined the light coming from one of these little red dots, QSO1, to measure something called the ‘rotation curve’.

Scientists use this measurement to work out the mass of galaxies and the supermassive black holes at their centre.

However, when the researchers calculated the mass of QSO1, the results were puzzling.

Although the supermassive black hole is 50 million times the mass of our sun, the cloud of dust and gas surrounding it is only half that mass.

Little red dots date back to around 700 million years after the Big Bang, the first period when light from stars is visible through the fog of the early universe. Scientists believe that some may be supermassive black holes

Little red dots date back to around 700 million years after the Big Bang, the first period when light from stars is visible through the fog of the early universe. Scientists believe that some may be supermassive black holes 

What are primordial black holes?

Primordial black holes are microscopic pieces of ultra-dense matter, just like normal black holes but smaller.

Scientists think they may have been formed at the very beginning of the universe rather than out of collapsing stars. 

Their masses could range between 100,000 times less than a paperclip to 100,000 times greater than the sun.

We haven’t found proof that they exist, but they might form part of the ‘dark matter’ which makes up a large part of the mass of the universe. 

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Professor Maiolino says: ‘We can certainly say that this black hole is more massive than its putative host galaxy, if there is a galaxy at all around it.

‘This is in stark contrast with supermassive black holes found at the centre of local galaxies.’

For example, the Milky Way contain thousands of times more mass than the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* that sits at the core.

Additionally, in a separate analysis, the researchers found that the material around QSO1 was almost entirely ‘pristine’ hydrogen and helium.

The fact that there are no heavy elements like iron, which are created in the hearts of stars, suggests that there is very little stellar formation happening around the black hole.

This black hole is essentially ‘naked’, with very little surrounding galaxy of any kind.

If the black hole formed out of a dying star, as scientists believe, there is no way to explain how it got so big without pulling in a larger galaxy.

According to the researcher’s paper, currently awaiting peer review, the theory which best explains this is that QSO1 is a primordial black hole.

The researchers found that the black hole contained 50 million times the mass of the sun, but its surrounding galaxy contained only half that mass. This would only be possible if its existence predated the birth of the first stars (stock image)

The researchers found that the black hole contained 50 million times the mass of the sun, but its surrounding galaxy contained only half that mass. This would only be possible if its existence predated the birth of the first stars (stock image) 

By comparison, the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way (pictured) is thousands of times less massive than the Milky Way itself

By comparison, the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way (pictured) is thousands of times less massive than the Milky Way itself 

Originally proposed by Stephen Hawking, primordial black holes are believed to have formed in the first few seconds of the Big Bang from patches of the universe that were too dense to support themselves.

Although there are different theories about how they form, the important thing is that they would predate the creation of stars.

Professor Maiolino told The Daily Mail that this finding would be a ‘paradigm change’.

He said: ‘The standard scenario is that supermassive black holes form and grow inside galaxies, either from accretion on stellar remnants or merging of nuclear clusters of stars; in this case, stars and galaxies form first and then supermassive black holes form and grow inside them.

‘In the primordial black holes scenarios, these black holes form first and then galaxies may form around them.’

However, if QSO1 really is a primordial black hole, this would completely change how scientists think about the formation of galaxies. 

The researchers caution that this is only a first result and that more studies will be needed in the future.

Lead author Dr Ignas Juodžbalis, of the University of Cambridge, said: ‘However, one can not use a single observation to draw sweeping conclusions. More future work is needed – we are currently following up a similar object with fresh JWST observations, with results due next year.’

BLACK HOLES HAVE A GRAVITATIONAL PULL SO STRONG NOT EVEN LIGHT CAN ESCAPE

Black holes are so dense and their gravitational pull is so strong that no form of radiation can escape them – not even light.

They act as intense sources of gravity which hoover up dust and gas around them. Their intense gravitational pull is thought to be what stars in galaxies orbit around.

How they are formed is still poorly understood. Astronomers believe they may form when a large cloud of gas up to 100,000 times bigger than the sun, collapses into a black hole.

Many of these black hole seeds then merge to form much larger supermassive black holes, which are found at the centre of every known massive galaxy.

Alternatively, a supermassive black hole seed could come from a giant star, about 100 times the sun’s mass, that ultimately forms into a black hole after it runs out of fuel and collapses.

When these giant stars die, they also go ‘supernova’, a huge explosion that expels the matter from the outer layers of the star into deep space.Â