Black Holes or Black Hole Stars? Astronomers Spar over 'Little Red Dots'

The James Webb Space Telescope has detected mysterious "little red dots" throughout the early universe that astronomers initially believed were supermassive black holes, but recent observations suggest they may instead be a previously unknown type of object called "black hole stars"—enormous stars shining with the brightness of billions of suns while harboring black holes in their cores. Two teams of astronomers announced in spring 2025 that these objects are unlike anything previously observed, potentially representing the early stages of supermassive black hole formation within colossal stars in the universe's first billion years.