JWST uncovers a distant naked black-hole-star, offering clues to the little red dots

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope’s Mirage/MoM survey discovered MoM-BH*-1, the farthest known naked black-hole-star. Its accretion-powered glow lights a surrounding gas cloud, and its proximity to a young, high-redshift galaxy suggests such objects could masquerade as faint galaxies in JWST observations. This finding supports the idea that black-hole stars may be key engines in the early universe and could illuminate why the JWST images show the mysterious little red dots; the team estimates MoM-BH*-1 could eventually merge with its host galaxy in about 100 million years, potentially shedding light on the birth of quasars.