JWST’s mysterious little red dots may be black holes growing at incredible speeds

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics ran detailed simulations of the early universe on the ATERUI III supercomputer. The model showed that JWST's mysterious 'little red dots' may be black holes growing tens of times faster than possible today.

• ATERUI III simulations reproduced properties of JWST's 'little red dots'
• Far-UV light from galaxies hinders star formation, gas collapses into supermassive star
• Black holes in dense gas disks grow tens of times faster than in modern universe
• Results published in Nature: DOI 10.1038/s41586-026-10985-8