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JWST Reveals Tiny Black Holes Preceded Stars' Formation

11/6/2025

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Summary

Story summary

Recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) suggest the universe may have hosted tiny black holes before stars and galaxies formed.
QSO1, in the galaxy cluster Abell 2744, has about 50 million suns in mass and little gas or stars, challenging formation models.
BiRD is a 100 million suns supermassive black hole that existed during 'cosmic noon,' about 4 billion years after the Big Bang, implying earlier and different formation.

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Story summary

Recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) suggest the universe may have hosted tiny black holes before stars and galaxies formed.
QSO1, in the galaxy cluster Abell 2744, has about 50 million suns in mass and little gas or stars, challenging formation models.
BiRD is a 100 million suns supermassive black hole that existed during 'cosmic noon,' about 4 billion years after the Big Bang, implying earlier and different formation.