A mysterious red object 13 billion years old opens the search for the oldest black holes

A recent scientific study supports the hypothesis that some black holes formed in the early universe, before stars appeared, based on analysis of an ancient red object observed by the James Webb Telescope. The results do not confirm a discovery, but open a field for testing the primordial black hole hypothesis.

A recent scientific study has revealed results supporting the possibility that some black holes formed in the early stages of the universe, before stars and galaxies appeared, based on analysis of a small red object observed by the James Webb Space Telescope, dating back to about 700 million years after the Big Bang. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in the United States tested the hypothesis of a primordial black hole inside the object known as 'Abell 2744-QSO1', whose light took about 13.1 billion years to reach us, in an attempt to understand whether some black holes formed due to density fluctuations in the early universe, rather than from the collapse of massive stars. According to the study, published in the journal Physical Review Letters on June 12, 2026, the characteristics of the observed object make it a suitable candidate for testing the primordial black hole hypothesis, although there is no direct evidence confirming any discovery yet. The idea of primordial black holes dates back to the 1970s, when British physicist Stephen Hawking discussed the possibility of these objects forming in the early stages of the universe, before stars existed.