A "naked" black hole created moments after the Big Bang could rewrite our understanding of cosmic history.
New images from the James Webb Space Telescope have shed light on a mysterious "little red dot" - thought to date back to the dawn of space.
The ancient object, dates back to when the universe was 700 million years old - that's 13 billion years ago - may represent the first confirmed example of a primordial black hole.
Scientists examining the telescope's data believe this massive object could have emerged within moments of the Big Bang itself.
Primordial black holes are thought to have been formed in the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang by denser and hotter regions of space collapsing in on themselves
And the dot could confirm theories put forward by Stephen Hawking in the 1970s long thought to have been too "exotic".
New images from the James Webb Space Telescope have shed light on a mysterious 'little red dot'
|NASA
The finding suggests black holes might have come before galaxies in cosmic history, flying directly in the face of scientific consensus about how the universe came to be.
The object, officially named QSO1, has a mass equivalent to 50 million suns.
Its surrounding halo of gas and dust weighs less than half this, creating an unusual cosmic configuration.
"This black hole is nearly naked," Professor Roberto Maiolino from Cambridge University, who participated in the research, said.
Analysis revealed the glowing matter encircling the black hole consists almost entirely of hydrogen and helium.
The absence of heavier elements, typically produced within stars, hints that "stellar activity" near the black hole may have been minimal.
This pristine chemical signature distinguishes QSO1 from the black holes seen in today's universe.
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The tiny black hole is hidden in this sprawling composite image of Pandora's Cluster
|NASA
Scientists have long maintained that stars and galaxies emerged first, with black holes forming later when massive stars exhausted their fuel and collapsed.
"These results are a paradigm change," Prof Maiolino said. "Here, we're witnessing a massive black hole formed without much of a galaxy, as far as we can say from the data."
Hawking's theoretical framework proposed that "extreme density fluctuations" in the universe's earliest moments could create black holes of various sizes.
These primordial objects would then serve as gravitational "anchors", drawing in the gas and dust that eventually formed galaxies.
Despite decades of searching, astronomers had never actually seen such objects, relegating them to mere theory.
The finding suggests black holes might have come before galaxies in cosmic history (file photo)
| REUTERSAnd the implications of the find go far beyond astronomy.
Professor Andrew Pontzen from Durham University said: "A confirmed primordial origin for black holes would have profound implications for fundamental laws of physics.
"The researchers behind this study use new JWST observations to strengthen the case for primordial origins, but it's an indirect argument and it will take time for the debate to be settled."
"A decade from now, the next generation of gravitational wave detectors, perfect for sniffing out black holes across the entire universe, will settle the matter," Prof Pontzen added.