Webb spots colossal early black holes that dwarf their host galaxies, upending growth theories

Webb observations of the early universe reveal a population of compact red objects hosting actively accreting black holes that, in some cases, rival or exceed the host galaxy’s stellar mass, challenging the standard coevolution picture; proposed explanations include unusually heavy seed black holes and bursts of rapid accretion, with spectroscopy and time-lapse imaging of the gas around these black holes planned to help determine how these giants formed.