Overview
- Peer-reviewed results in Nature from a University of Copenhagen–led team analyzed JWST spectra for 30 objects and identify them as accreting black holes embedded in dense ionized cocoons.
- The surrounding gas absorbs much of the UV and X-ray output, accounting for weak high‑energy detections and the compact red appearance in infrared images.
- Revised estimates place the black holes at roughly 10–100 times lower mass than earlier claims, typically reaching up to about 10 million solar masses.
- The sources appear to be feeding at near‑Eddington rates, offering a credible mechanism for building supermassive black holes within a few hundred million years of the Big Bang.
- Hundreds of candidates have been cataloged, and teams plan targeted X‑ray, radio and deeper JWST spectroscopy to confirm the cocoon phase as alternative explanations remain under investigation.