James Webb Space Telescope's 'little red dots' come into focus

A cosmic object spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope has flummoxed astronomers. Now, a research team has studied hundreds of these "little red dots" and found clues about their identity.

Jan 14, 2025 - 20:19
James Webb Space Telescope's 'little red dots' come into focus
A team of astronomers sifted through James Webb Space Telescope data to compile one of the largest samples of "little red dots." The team started with the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey before widening their scope to other extragalactic legacy fields, including the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) and the Next Generation Deep Extragalactic Exploratory Public (NGDEEP) survey.

A cosmic object spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope has flummoxed astronomers. Now, a research team has studied hundreds of these "little red dots" and found clues about their identity.

(Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Dale Kocevski (Colby College))