Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array have discovered a dusty, rapidly growing black hole in the early universe.

"JWST and ALMA reveal a dusty, rapidly growing black hole in the early universe" — Phys.org · Science & Medicine

27 Oct 2026

What it means

Astronomers using and have found a dust-obscured, actively accreting supermassive black hole (a quasar) from when the universe was less than a billion years old, at redshift 6.5488. Combining infrared and millimeter observations lets them see through the dust to measure how fast the black hole is growing, offering a direct probe of how the earliest supermassive black holes formed so quickly.

Accuracy & sourcesGrounded

The claim is based on a new study reported by Phys.org (a reputable secondary source), presumably anchored to a peer-reviewed paper or preprint. The reported specifics, including the redshift of 6.5488, are plausible and consistent with the search results; while we have not read the primary paper, the discovery rests on direct JWST and ALMA observations and appears well-supported.

How new

Genuinely new: reported on 26 October 2026, matching the publication window.

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array have discovered a dusty, rapidly growing black hole in the early universe.

What it means

Accuracy & sourcesGrounded

How new

Go deeper