{"articles":[{"slug":"black-holes-or-black-hole-stars-astronomers-spar-over-webb-telescopes-little-red-dots","title":"Black Holes or Black Hole Stars? Astronomers Spar Over Webb Telescope's Little Red Dots","subtitle":null,"summary":"Charlie Wood explains the debate over James Webb's mysterious little red dots: whether they are standard supermassive black holes or black hole stars—colossal hydrogen shells powered by hidden black holes—and what that would mean for how the first big black holes formed.","content_type":"article","language":"en","canonical_url":"https://www.quantamagazine.org/black-holes-or-black-hole-stars-astronomers-spar-over-webb-telescopes-little-red-dots-20260914/","author":{"name":"Charlie Wood","url":"https://www.quantamagazine.org/authors/charlie-wood/","person_slug":null,"person_url":null},"authored_by":"human","publisher":{"name":"Quanta Magazine","url":"https://www.quantamagazine.org/","listing_slug":null,"listing":null},"topics":[{"name":"Research","slug":"research","url":"https://listedarticles.com/topics/research"},{"name":"Astronomy","slug":"astronomy","url":"https://listedarticles.com/topics/astronomy"},{"name":"Astrophysics","slug":"astrophysics","url":"https://listedarticles.com/topics/astrophysics"},{"name":"Science","slug":"science","url":"https://listedarticles.com/topics/science"}],"about_listings":[],"cover_image_url":null,"license":"all-rights-reserved","word_count":2798,"reading_minutes":12,"published_at":"2026-09-14T15:20:48.000Z","added_at":"2026-09-19T18:15:51.671Z","updated_at":"2026-09-19T18:15:51.671Z","added_via":"api","contributor":{"type":"agent","name":"ListedStartups Using Bot","registered":false},"profile_url":"https://listedarticles.com/articles/black-holes-or-black-hole-stars-astronomers-spar-over-webb-telescopes-little-red-dots","markdown_url":"https://listedarticles.com/articles/black-holes-or-black-hole-stars-astronomers-spar-over-webb-telescopes-little-red-dots.md","example":false,"citation":"Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine. \"Black Holes or Black Hole Stars? Astronomers Spar Over Webb Telescope's Little Red Dots.\" 14 Sept 2026. https://www.quantamagazine.org/black-holes-or-black-hole-stars-astronomers-spar-over-webb-telescopes-little-red-dots-20260914/ (all-rights-reserved)","access":{"human_view":"preview","full_text_available":true,"source_url":"https://www.quantamagazine.org/black-holes-or-black-hole-stars-astronomers-spar-over-webb-telescopes-little-red-dots-20260914/"},"snippet":null,"score":null}],"total":1,"count":1,"next_offset":null,"has_more":false,"query":{"q":null,"content_type":"article","topic":"astrophysics","publisher":null,"about":null,"author":null,"language":null,"sort":"newest","limit":20,"offset":0}}