2026年8月12日 美国东部时间下午12:42 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/法新社
天文学家于周三宣布，他们发现了一种新型天体，名为“黑洞恒星”，这一发现或可解开早期宇宙中被观测到的诡异红点之谜。
这种天体外形类似太阳系大小的恒星，但其释放的能量却是普通恒星的1000亿倍——其强大的能量爆发更接近黑洞产生的能量。
周三发表在《自然》期刊上的一项研究显示，这颗形成于宇宙大爆炸后6.6亿年的黑洞恒星，是由美国牵头的天文学家团队利用詹姆斯·韦布空间望远镜发现的。
自这台人类史上功能最强大的望远镜于2022年投入运行以来，它在早期宇宙中观测到了大量被称为“小红点”的极亮天体，这些天体一直困扰着科学家们。
“这些天体究竟是什么，一直是韦布望远镜时代最具争议的话题之一，”该研究的主要作者、夏威夷大学的罗汉·奈杜在一份声明中说道。
该团队原本一直在寻找另一个谜团的线索：为何韦布望远镜能在宇宙 infancy（宇宙早期）中发现明亮的星系，而当时学界普遍认为此时的宇宙还太过年轻，星系不可能变得如此巨大。
但在浏览观测图像时，他们发现了一个小红点。
“纯粹的黑洞恒星光”
“当我们在宇宙中看到极红的天体时，通常会认为它被尘埃包裹着，比如煤烟或灰烬，”该研究的合著者、麻省理工学院的罗伯特·西姆科说道。
“就像近期加拿大野火产生的烟雾让波士顿的天空呈现亮红色一样，当我们透过尘埃面纱观测天体时，它们看起来会比本身颜色更红，”他补充道。
然而，当团队梳理观测数据时，他们发现该天体的光线在特定波长下完全消失了。
令人惊讶的是，这表明并非尘埃让该天体呈现红色，真正的原因是氢气。
这解释了该天体的颜色，但无法说明它为何能释放如此巨大的能量。
“你无法通过核聚变来提供这么多能量，而核聚变是所有恒星核心的能量来源，”奈杜解释道。
通过建模模拟，他们确定最有可能的情况是：该天体由一个被气体茧包裹的中央黑洞驱动，这让它看起来像一颗恒星。
该团队将这一天体命名为MoM-BH*-1。其中BH和星号代表“黑洞恒星”，而数字1则表明他们认为宇宙中还存在更多这类天体。
“每一个小红点都符合黑洞恒星的特征，”奈杜说道。
“MoM-BH*-1的特别之处在于，黑洞恒星的亮度完全盖过了其所在的宿主星系，因此我们观测到的纯粹是黑洞恒星发出的光线。”
韦布望远镜发现银河系中央黑洞附近仍存在尘埃和水
另有一组天文学家于周二宣布，韦布望远镜在银河系中央黑洞附近的极端环境中，观测到了仍存活的尘埃和水。科学家表示，此次新观测为恒星IRS 3提供了迄今为止最详细的中红外影像，该恒星距离银河系中央超大质量黑洞人马座A*仅0.55光年。
通过韦布望远镜分析该恒星的红外光线，研究团队识别出了富氧尘埃的迹象，并首次在该恒星的包裹星云中探测到了水。研究结果表明，即使在超大质量黑洞附近的恶劣环境中，像IRS 3这样的演化恒星仍能产生尘埃和其他对未来恒星形成至关重要的物质。
韦布望远镜的中红外数据清晰地显示出IRS 3尘埃包层中富氧硅酸盐尘埃的特征，以及首次被探测到的水。即使在所处环境的极端条件下，恒星仍能产生尘埃，这将助力未来恒星的形成！
——美国国家航空航天局韦布望远镜官方账号（@NASAWebb） 2026年8月12日
“银河中心是最极端的环境之一，因此了解恒星能否在这类区域持续为周围环境补充物质是一个重要的研究课题，”该研究的主要作者、德国科隆大学的弗洛里安·派瑟克说道。“借助韦布望远镜，我们可以直接观测恒星在这些条件下的行为，并发现尘埃的产生过程依然惊人地稳定。”
Newly discovered “black hole star” could solve mystery of strange red dots spotted in the early universe
August 12, 2026 12:42 PM EDT / CBS/AFP
Astronomers announced Wednesday they had discovered a new type of astronomical object called a “black hole star,” potentially solving a mystery involving strange red dots spotted in the early universe.
The object looks like a star the size of our solar system, but produces 100 billion times more energy than any star — a mighty blast of power closer to what is produced by a black hole.
The black hole star, which dates from 660 million years after the Big Bang, was spotted by a U.S.-led team of astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Since history’s most powerful telescope went online in 2022, it has been spotting many extremely bright cosmic objects dubbed “little red dots” in the early universe that have baffled scientists.
“What exactly these objects are has been one of the most debated topics of the JWST era,” lead study author Rohan Naidu of the University of Hawaii said in a statement.
The team had been trying to find clues for a different mystery: why JWST keeps finding bright galaxies in the universe’s infancy, when it was thought to have been too early for them to have become so huge.
But while looking through the images, they spotted a little red dot.
“Pure black hole star light”
“When we see something very red in the universe, we often assume that it is surrounded by dust, like soot or ash,” said Robert Simcoe, a study co-author from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“The same way that the wildfire smoke from Canada recently made the sky in Boston look bright red, astronomical objects can also appear redder than their intrinsic color when you see them through a veil of dust,” he added.
However, when the team sifted through their data, they found that at certain wavelengths, the object’s light simply disappeared.
To their surprise, this suggested that it is not dust making this object appear red — it is hydrogen gas.
This explained the object’s color, but not how it could be pumping out so much energy.
“You can’t be powering this by nuclear fusion, which is the energy source that sits at the heart of all the stars,” Naidu explained.
Using modeling simulations, they determined the most likely scenario was that the object is powered by a central black hole surrounded by a cocoon of gas that makes it resemble a star.
The team named the object MoM-BH*-1. The BH and asterisk are for black hole star — and the number one suggests they believe there are more out there.
“Every little red dot is consistent with being a black hole star,” Naidu said.
“What is special about MoM-BH*-1 is, the black hole star is essentially completely outshining its surrounding host galaxy, such that we’re seeing pure black hole star light.”
Webb reveals dust and water surviving near Milky Way’s central black hole
Separately, a team of astronomers announced on Tuesday that the Webb telescope revealed dust and water surviving in the extreme environment of a star located near the Milky Way’s central black hole. Scientists say the new observations provide the most detailed mid-infrared view yet of the star IRS 3, which is located just 0.55 light-years from Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way galaxy’s central supermassive black hole.
By analyzing the star’s infrared light with the Webb telescope, the research team identified signs of oxygen-rich dust and, for the first time, detected water in the star’s surrounding envelope. The results show that evolved stars like IRS 3 can still produce dust and other materials important for the creation of future stars – even under the harsh conditions near a supermassive black hole.
Webb’s mid-infrared data revealed the clear signature of oxygen-rich silicate dust, as well as, for the first time, water, in IRS 3’s dust envelope. Even under the harsh conditions of its environment, stars can produce dust, which will help create future generations of stars!
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) August 12, 2026
“Galactic centers are among the most extreme environments, so understanding whether stars can continue enriching their surroundings there is an important question,” said lead author Florian Peißker of the University of Cologne in Germany. “With Webb, we can directly observe how stars behave under these conditions and see that dust production remains remarkably resilient.”
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