An international research team, including scientists from MIT, has reported an object named “MoM-BH*-1” based on observational data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It existed in the early universe just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang some 13.8 billion years ago, and is releasing roughly 100 billion times more energy than any known stellar process. The team believes it consists of a black hole with about 100,000 times the mass of the Sun, enveloped in dense hydrogen gas roughly the size of the solar system — likely the first real-world example of a “black hole star,” an object that had previously existed only in theory. On the 5ch Science News+ thread, discussion centered on the fact that this object outshines its host galaxy, and on its possible connection to the mysterious “Little Red Dots” that JWST has been spotting in large numbers.
New type of celestial object, the “black hole star,” discovered by Webb Space Telescope
A team of astronomers has discovered an object that may represent an entirely new type.
It’s an extraordinarily massive “black hole star” that existed in the early universe. Observed as an intensely bright red point of light, this object combines the appearance of a giant star with the enormous energy output of a black hole.
If that's true though, it should still be out there today…
3AnonymousSep 16, 2026 22:53
A red black hole
Akira Kobayashi: "Red…" (nod to the enka singer's hit song "Red Handkerchief")
4AnonymousSep 16, 2026 22:54
Kamen Rider V3: "Red…" (his signature red muffler)
5AnonymousSep 16, 2026 23:05
The article says they "discovered a completely new type of object," but the idea of black hole stars has actually been around for 20 years. It's more that telescope precision has improved in recent years, and once "Little Red Dots" started turning up in distant galaxies, the black hole star hypothesis started getting a lot more attention.
If you assume LRDs are actually black hole stars, it neatly explains several of their features. So lately the "LRDs = black hole stars" theory has been gaining a lot of traction.
6AnonymousSep 16, 2026 23:17
Given how long black holes live, the ones they've found are probably still totally in their prime.
7AnonymousSep 16, 2026 23:47
The reason black hole stars are only found in early galaxies is thought to be that they represent an early stage on the way to becoming a supermassive black hole.
Strictly speaking, a "black hole star" isn't a single object — it's a state where gas envelops a black hole
(which is why the bright accretion-disk light and jets you'd normally expect get absorbed by the thick gas layer).
Once the black hole finishes consuming the surrounding gas, it's thought to end up looking like an ordinary supermassive black hole instead of a black hole star.
8AnonymousSep 16, 2026 23:52
Come to think of it, I haven't seen the "Black Hole Man" ASCII art around lately. (a old 2ch/5ch text-art meme character)
9AnonymousSep 16, 2026 23:59
A red-orb black hole
10AnonymousSep 17, 2026 01:45
Feels like some secret weapon from the Showa era (Japan, 1926-1989)
11AnonymousSep 17, 2026 01:55
In English it's called a "quasi-star" — literally translated that's "junsei" (準星), the old Japanese term for quasar. Takes me back, this is exciting.
12AnonymousSep 17, 2026 03:37
> Supermassive black hole
↑ If you converted that mass into cash, how much would it be worth?
13AnonymousSep 17, 2026 04:34
>>The paper detailing this discovery, made using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) by an international research team including MIT, was published in the journal Nature. This brightly glowing red light source, named "MoM-BH*-1," existed in the universe just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago.
14AnonymousSep 17, 2026 04:36
Re: #13 Isn't it strange that this exists this early after the Big Bang?
Going by the observations, the energy laws in cosmological theory must be wrong somewhere.
15AnonymousSep 17, 2026 04:38
Re: #14
Either the data we're currently observing is off, or the equations for cosmic energy are off — it's got to be one or the other.
16AnonymousSep 17, 2026 04:39
>>JWST's images of the distant universe have repeatedly captured mysterious small red objects known as "Little Red Dots" (LRDs), and this discovery may finally help solve that long-awaited mystery.
17AnonymousSep 17, 2026 04:40
>>According to the research team, it's producing about 100 billion times more energy than any known stellar process could generate. Rohan Naidu, the paper's lead author and a NASA Hubble Fellow and Pappalardo Fellow at MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (MKI), explained: "It looks like a single star, but it's 100 billion times brighter," meaning "nuclear fusion simply cannot supply that much energy — fusion is the energy source at the core of every known star." Because the energy output is so extraordinarily large,
>>the team concluded that a fundamentally different energy source — a black hole — had to be at work.
18AnonymousSep 17, 2026 04:41
Re: #17 If the energy output is this huge, couldn't there be a black hole connected to the entire universe?
19AnonymousSep 17, 2026 04:42
>>Computer simulations suggest that MoM-BH*-1 contains a black hole with roughly 100,000 times the mass of the Sun at its core. Unlike many black holes that sit exposed while actively devouring surrounding matter, this one appears to be wrapped in an extremely dense outer layer of hydrogen gas. This cocoon-like envelope is about the size of the solar system and behaves in some ways like the atmosphere of a giant star.
>>This is the first time an object combining a black hole undergoing intense accretion with a dense, star-atmosphere-like outer envelope has ever been observed.
20AnonymousSep 17, 2026 04:43
Re: #19 Surprising that this is the first time one's been observed, given how much energy it's putting out.
21AnonymousSep 17, 2026 04:45
>>The impact of this discovery may not be limited to a single object. Ever since JWST began observing the distant universe, astronomers have repeatedly encountered small, unusually red objects nicknamed "Little Red Dots" (LRDs). LRDs show up frequently in observations of the early universe but largely vanish in later cosmic eras. Naidu noted that "what these objects actually are has become one of the most hotly debated questions of the JWST era." The team's research suggests that many LRDs could
>>potentially be explained as black hole stars.
>>What makes MoM-BH*-1 especially notable is that it shines overwhelmingly brighter than its host galaxy, meaning it can be observed with far less interference than other cases.
22AnonymousSep 17, 2026 04:47
Re: #21 So will this finally crack the mystery of black holes?
23AnonymousSep 17, 2026 04:47
>>"All of the LRDs captured in JWST's observation images are consistent with black hole stars existing inside ordinary early galaxies," the team explained. "But what's special about MoM-BH*-1 is that this black hole star shines so brightly that it essentially overwhelms all the light from its host galaxy, meaning we end up observing only the black hole star's own light."
24AnonymousSep 17, 2026 04:48
Re: #23 Sounds like we might actually be able to photograph the inside of a black hole with this.
29AnonymousSep 17, 2026 06:17
The source says it "shone brighter than its host galaxy," but isn't it more likely that this thing is what the galaxy formed out of?
30AnonymousSep 17, 2026 06:34
Is this the kind that forms directly into a black hole out of dense hydrogen and helium gas?
31AnonymousSep 17, 2026 06:45
The Moon may have formed in just 5 hours — simulating the collision between Earth and the protoplanet Theia
Around 4.5 billion years ago, a hypothetical ancient Mars-sized planet called "Theia" collided with the proto-Earth…
Published: 2026-09-16 20:30
https://karapaia.com/archives/628245.html
35AnonymousSep 17, 2026 08:02
Sounds like a tough star
Background and key points of this discussion
Some in the thread were puzzled by how young the universe was — “just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang” — but this isn’t a case of physical laws breaking down. The core of this report is that a growing supermassive black hole is being proposed as a fundamentally different energy source from ordinary stellar evolution. The concept of a “black hole star” has existed in theory for about 20 years, and its possible connection to the “Little Red Dots” that JWST has found in large numbers in distant galaxies has drawn growing attention in astronomy in recent years. Opinion in the thread was split between those who suggested this object might be involved in the formation of its host galaxy itself, and those who saw it as merely one stage on the way to becoming a supermassive black hole. It’s also worth noting that this particular object, “MoM-BH*-1,” is an easy case to observe in isolation precisely because it’s bright enough to nearly drown out all the surrounding light — a special set of conditions that doesn’t mean every object of this type is seen this clearly, a point that’s easy to misread.
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