JWST fully solves the mystery of "Little Red Dots"

Webb telescope just solved the 'universe-breaking problem'

Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to investigate mysterious red objects in the deep cosmos. They're likely active black holes at the center of distant galaxies.

JWST fully solves the mystery of "Little Red Dots"

In the summer of 2022, our views of the distant Universe — and our story of how galaxies formed and grew up — changed forever as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) began science operations. With superior light-gathering power, it could detect fainter objects than ever before. With superior resolution, it could differentiate single-source objects from extended or multi-source objects better than ever before. And with its infrared-specialized c…

Webb Provides an Explanation for "Little Red Dots"

When a new space telescope is launched, it’s designed to address specific issues in astronomy and provide critical answers to important questions. The JWST was built with four overarching science goals in mind. However, when anticipating new telescopes, astronomers are quick to point out that they’re also excited by the unexpected discoveries that new telescopes make. There has been no shortage of unexpected discoveries regarding the JWST, espec…

The early universe’s ‘Little Red Dots’ are still a big mystery

On Tuesday, at the 245th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, astronomers revisited some recent mysteries. Dale Kocevski, from Colby College in Maine, spoke during a press conference about the Little Red Dots (LRDs) found in data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). These are the same as the “universe-breaking” galaxies first reported roughlyContinue reading "The early universe’s ‘Little Red Dots’ are still a big mystery" The pos…

Webb telescope just solved the ‘universe-breaking problem’

The James Webb Space Telescope might not have broken our understanding of the universe, after all. Previously, astronomers used Webb to spot curious, faint, and extremely ancient red dots that they surmised were giant galaxies. But there was a problem. It shouldn’t have been possible for such massive galaxies — the earliest of which formed just some 500 to 700 million years after the universe was created — to have enough material to form copious…

BLK ALERTS - James Webb Space Telescope’s “little red dots” come into focus

A cosmic object spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope has flummoxed astronomers. Now, a research team has studied hundreds of these “little red dots” and found clues about their identity. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Dale Kocevski (Colby College))