That baby black hole is built like a linebacker!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
For years, astronomers have spotted mysterious “little red dots” in the sky. They were believed to be black holes that were impossibly massive for their age.
Not so, according to the Witstok lab at the Niels Bohr Institute.
Analyzing the black holes’ light, researchers realized it was bouncing through a thick gas “fog.” Once they accounted for the fog, the black holes shrank! They weren’t giants! Just “baby” black holes!! Swaddled in dense cocoons that made them look bigger!
Nursery photos! Rare glimpses of black holes in their chrysalis phase!
Like a toddler in a ‘puffah’ jacket!
Reference: Rusakov, V., Watson, D., Nikopoulos, G. P., Brammer, G., Gottumukkala, R., Harvey, T., … & Witstok, J. (2026). Little red dots as young supermassive black holes in dense ionized cocoons. Nature, 649(8097), 574-579.