Scientists unravel mystery of James Webb’s ‘little red dots’ in deep space

Scientists have recently announced a solution to the mystery of the “little red dots” first spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope in 2022.

According to a major study published in the Journal Nature on January 14, researchers demonstrated that these dots are not massive galaxies, but rather young supermassive black holes obscured by dense gas. Researchers found the objects puzzling their unusual light obscured the source of their power.

However, earlier studies suggest that these “little red dots" are extremely compact and appeared during the earliest stages of the universe’s history.

How light from early galaxies is spread across the spectrum

James Webb’s advanced instruments helped to scrutinize how light from the galaxies is distributed across distinct colours. They found that light is scattered by dense, ionized gases, a process that occurs only very close to a black hole that is accreting material.

Observations show that as the gas falls towards a black hole, it heats up and shines through the surrounding cocoon of gas, producing the characteristic red glow.

The new study further suggests the black holes have masses between 100,000 and 10 million times that of that Sun.

Although massive, they are far smaller than previously imagined, the lowest-mass black holes known in the early universe. The little dots are essentially young black holes caught in a previously unobserved growth spurt.