There\u2019s a literal fault in our stars.<\/p>\n
Astronomers might\u2019ve finally solved one of the universe\u2019s most enduring mysteries after discovering a new, super energetic entity that\u2019s being billed as a cross between a black hole and a star. They detailed this heavenly hybrid, fittingly dubbed a black-hole star, in a mind-blowing study in the journal Nature.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cOur picture of this object is evolving very rapidly,\u201d\u00a0study author Rohan Naidu, an astrophysicist at MIT,\u00a0said in a statement<\/a> regarding the find. <\/p>\n Astronomers have happened across what could potentially be the first recorded black-hole star, dubbed MoM-BH*-1, which they hope will shed light on the dawn of the universe.<\/p>\n An illustration compares stars (left), black holes (center), and black hole stars (right). iStock; Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT<\/p>\n They identified the object accidentally while using the James Webb Space Telescope to identify the furthest, oldest galaxies in the universe \u2014 a project they labeled the Mirage or Miracle\u00a0(MoM) survey.<\/p>\n The cosmic anomaly, called MoM-BH*-1, is a bright red dot from our early universe whose star-like gas cloud is the size of our solar system, according to Popular Science.<\/a><\/p>\n However, this celestial chimera also has a black hole component that\u2019s 100,000 times the size of the sun, and, much like this intergalactic void, emits 100 times as much energy as any known stellar formation.<\/p>\n The MoM-BH*-1 is also 100 billion times brighter than the average star \u2014 so luminous that it outshined its host galaxy, such that researchers were seeing unadulterated black hole light.<\/p>\n A black hole star stands out as a little red dot in these James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images. Courtesy of the researchers<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a very special thing to find an object with no comparison given the vast stores of data on billions of stars, galaxies, and black holes that we have in our archival databases,\u201d exclaimed Naidu. \u201cMoM-BH*-1 is one in a billion!\u201d<\/p>\n Most importantly, this black-hole star could potentially shed light on the identity of little red dots<\/a>, mysterious crimson speckles captured by the JWST that were ubiquitous during the dawn of time\u2014 within the first two billion years following the Big Bang.<\/p>\n