Black holes are incredibly dense cosmic objects formed when massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycles or through the direct collapse of gas in the early universe12. They are characterized by an event horizon, a boundary beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape due to the extreme gravitational pull3. Black holes come in various sizes, from stellar-mass black holes a few times the mass of our sun to supermassive black holes millions or billions of times more massive1. These enigmatic objects play a crucial role in astrophysics, shaping galactic evolution and providing insights into extreme physics. They grow by consuming surrounding matter through accretion disks and can emit powerful jets of particles3. Despite being invisible themselves, black holes can be detected through their effects on nearby matter and space-time, including gravitational lensing and the emission of gravitational waves4.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), launched on December 25, 2021, has ushered in a new era of astronomical observation, providing unprecedented views of the early universe13. Utilizing JWST's advanced capabilities, a team of astronomers led by Dr. Lukas Furtak and Prof. Adi Zitrin from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev made a significant discovery - an extremely red, gravitationally lensed supermassive black hole dating back to approximately 700 million years after the Big Bang. This ancient black hole, located about 12.9 billion light-years away from Earth, appears to be shrouded in a thick veil of dust, which obscures much of its light and contributes to its extremely red appearance. The discovery was made possible through the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, which magnifies distant objects, allowing astronomers to peer deeper into the cosmos and study objects that would otherwise be too faint to observe1. This finding provides valuable insights into the formation and growth of supermassive black holes in the early universe, challenging existing theories and opening new avenues for research into cosmic history.

The discovery of the extremely red ancient supermassive black hole challenges our current understanding of cosmic evolution and galaxy formation. This finding suggests that black holes may have played a more significant role in shaping the early universe than previously thought. The existence of such a massive black hole just 700 million years after the Big Bang indicates that the universe may have evolved more rapidly than current models predict13. This discovery challenges the notion that galaxies and their central black holes grow together gradually over time, instead suggesting that some black holes formed and grew at an accelerated rate in the early universe5.

The implications of this discovery extend to our understanding of the mechanisms behind black hole formation and growth. It suggests that alternative processes, such as direct collapse of dense gas clouds or rapid mergers of smaller black holes, may have been more prevalent in the early universe4. Additionally, the presence of dust obscuring the black hole's light provides insights into the composition and structure of the early cosmos, highlighting the importance of considering dust when studying high-redshift objects15.

This finding also underscores the power of advanced observational tools like the James Webb Space Telescope in revealing previously unseen aspects of the early universe. As astronomers continue to study such ancient objects, they may need to revise existing theories about cosmic history, galaxy evolution, and the role of supermassive black holes in shaping the universe we observe today13.

Research has revealed a significant correlation between the mass of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and the total stellar mass of their host galaxies. A study of 262 broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the nearby universe found that SMBH mass scales proportionally with the host galaxy's total stellar mass1. However, the relationship for AGN host galaxies shows a much lower normalization compared to galaxies with dynamically-detected black holes, with a typical black hole-to-total stellar mass fraction of about 0.025% across a wide range of galaxy masses1. This ratio is considerably smaller than the previously established bulge mass-black hole mass relation, which suggested bulges are typically 500 to 1000 times more massive than their central black holes3. The discrepancy highlights the complexity of these relationships and the need for further research to fully understand the interplay between SMBHs and their host galaxies across different galaxy types and evolutionary stages.