Overview
- A multinational team matched Chandra X-ray data with a JWST deep field and found an X-ray–bright little red dot called 3DHST-AEGIS-12014 about 11.8 billion light-years away.
- The source shines in X-rays at levels typical of matter falling into a black hole, which sets it apart from most little red dots that show no X-ray signal.
- Researchers propose the object is in a transition phase as a growing black hole carves gaps in surrounding gas, allowing X-rays to leak out in bursts that may vary over time.
- The team stresses that time-series and multiwavelength follow-up is needed to confirm the black hole scenario and to rule out alternatives such as unusual dust or stellar origins.
- Little red dots are numerous, ultra-compact, red objects seen by JWST from roughly 600 million years after the Big Bang, and this is the first published case in the group with clear X-ray emission found by reexamining old data with new maps.