CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts: Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope identified MoM-BH*-1, a possible black hole star seen 660 million years after the Big Bang.
According to a Nature study published August 12, the peer-reviewed paper models an accreting black hole inside an envelope of extremely dense, turbulent hydrogen gas. Researchers said the dust-free gas produces the object’s red colour.
Rohan P. Naidu led the international team. He is a NASA Hubble Fellow and Pappalardo Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.
The team used JWST’s NIRSpec instrument to study MoM-BH*-1 at redshift 7.7569. Its spectrum showed an unusually deep Balmer break and strong hydrogen absorption, according to Nature.
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MIT said the source spans roughly the size of the solar system. It emits about 100 billion times more energy than any known star could produce, the institute said.
Computer models matched the observations with a central engine wrapped in gas spanning about 10 to 100 astronomical units.
The authors described the model as simplified and said the object’s formation remains an open question.
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The team named MoM-BH*-1 after its Mirage or Miracle survey, which selected the source for follow-up spectroscopy.
Researchers said MoM-BH*-1 may help explain “little red dots,” compact objects found frequently in early-universe JWST images. They proposed that gas-enshrouded black holes could power at least some of them.
