NASA identifies X-ray dot 3DHST-AEGIS-12014 using Chandra and Webb telescopes

Key facts

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Chandra X-ray Observatory and James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) identified a unique object named 3DHST-AEGIS-12014, also known as an X-ray dot.
• The X-ray dot is located approximately 11.8 billion light-years from Earth and provides a link to a class of mysterious early universe objects called Little Red Dots (LRDs).
• Researchers propose that LRDs are supermassive black holes embedded in dense gas clouds, and the X-ray dot represents a transition phase where gas is being consumed.
• The findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, were led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.
• NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra programme, while the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) controls its science operations.