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New data from the James Webb Space Telescope reveal that the oldest red objects in the universe, previously thought to be galaxies, are actually the accretion disks of massive black holes. The discovery preserves the current cosmological model and resolves previous contradictions.
Telescope observations have shown that these red dots, which appeared 500-700 million years after the Big Bang, cannot be massive galaxies with a large number of stars. Previously, hypotheses have been raised that have questioned age-old ideas about the age and structure of the universe, including the idea that the universe is much older than 13 billion years. However, analysis has shown that this red light comes from active black holes surrounded by superheated accretion disks of dust and gas that rotate at speeds of up to 1000 km/s.
According to Anthony Taylor of the University of Texas at Austin, this discovery removes the need for a radical revision of cosmology. “Contrary to previous statements, cosmology is not broken,” NASA emphasized during a presentation of the study at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Astronomers have studied a large sample of similar red objects observed by the telescope. About 70% of them show rapidly rotating gas, a key sign of massive black hole activity. This confirms that the red light is the result of energetic processes in the centers of early galaxies.
Interestingly, such objects begin to appear in large numbers 600 million years after the Big Bang, but their numbers decrease significantly after 1,5 billion years. Further studies of these "little red dots" will provide more information about the role of black holes in galaxy formation and the evolution of the early universe.
This discovery not only sheds light on the nature of the oldest objects, but also confirms the stability of the foundations of modern cosmology, reminding us that even the most mysterious phenomena can be explained within the framework of existing theories.
