Did black hole stars exist in early universe?
Scientists just proposed a wild new idea: "black hole stars" might have existed way back in the early universe.
This comes from studying The Cliff, a light source whose signals traveled for 11.9 billion years to reach us.
The theory is that these were supermassive black holes wrapped in thick gas clouds, which could explain some puzzling light patterns and why certain ancient objects seem older than expected.
Research shifts focus to black hole stars
Spotting a strong Balmer break—a feature usually seen in stars—in The Cliff's spectrum has experts rethinking how the cosmos evolved.
Simulations suggest these black hole stars popped up about 600 million years after the Big Bang.
While it's still just a hypothesis, this research (published September 28, 2025) opens up new questions about how the first cosmic lights formed and changed over time.