Dear Lykkers, black holes are among the most mysterious objects in the universe, but one of the biggest puzzles is how some became enormous so early in cosmic history.

The universe is about 13.8 billion years old, yet astronomers have detected extremely massive black holes that existed when it was still very young. One possible explanation involves a theoretical object called a quasi-star, in which a growing black hole could have been surrounded by an enormous gas envelope.

Why the First Black Holes Matter

One familiar way for a black hole to form is through the collapse of a massive star. When such a star reaches the end of its life, its core may collapse, leaving behind a black hole. That black hole can later grow by drawing in gas or merging with other black holes.

The challenge is time. Astronomers have discovered black holes with masses reaching millions or even billions of times the Sun's mass within the universe's first billion years. Growing such enormous objects from relatively small stellar remnants can be difficult under conventional assumptions about how quickly gas falls inward.

This has encouraged scientists to investigate whether some of the earliest black holes began with much larger seeds or experienced unusually rapid periods of growth.

A Black Hole Inside a Giant Envelope

The quasi-star hypothesis offers one possible explanation. In the early universe, large amounts of gas could accumulate in a massive, gravitationally bound structure. Under certain conditions, its central region might collapse into a black hole while an enormous envelope of gas remained around it.

Unlike an ordinary star, whose energy comes primarily from nuclear fusion, a quasi-star would be powered largely by energy released as material moved toward the central black hole.

The surrounding gas could absorb and transport much of that energy outward, making the object luminous even though a black hole was hidden deep inside. The idea remains theoretical, and astronomers have not confirmed the existence of a classical quasi-star.

Why the Growth Could Be Rapid

A black hole does not necessarily grow as fast as surrounding gas can reach it. As material falls inward, it releases energy, and the resulting radiation can push against additional incoming gas. This helps limit the growth rate in many familiar accretion models.

A quasi-star could behave differently because its massive envelope would help regulate the escape of energy. The central black hole might therefore gain mass at a rate that would be difficult to sustain if it were surrounded by a more ordinary accretion flow.

In a 2008 theoretical study, Mitchell Begelman, Elena Rossi, and Philip Armitage explored how this arrangement could produce black-hole seeds with masses thousands of times that of the Sun in a relatively short period.

The exact outcome depends on the structure and stability of the envelope. The model demonstrates a possible growth mechanism, not an established history of the first black holes.

What Modern Telescopes Can See

The James Webb Space Telescope has added important evidence to the debate. It has discovered numerous compact, distant objects nicknamed "little red dots," some of which appear to contain actively growing black holes.

In June 2026, astronomers reported a particularly detailed spectrum of one such object, GLIMPSE-17775. The observations revealed several features consistent with a rapidly growing black hole surrounded by a dense gas cocoon.

Researchers described this interpretation as a "black hole star" model. Although it shares the broad idea of a black hole hidden within surrounding material, it should not be confused with direct confirmation of the original quasi-star hypothesis.

GLIMPSE-17775 existed about 1.8 billion years after the Primeval atom explosion, so it also does not directly reveal how the very first black holes formed. Its importance lies in showing how dense gas may affect the appearance and growth of black holes in the young universe.

Other Possible Beginnings

Quasi-stars are only one proposed route toward producing massive early black holes. Some black holes may have formed from the deaths of the universe's first massive stars, then grown by accreting gas and merging with other black holes.

Another possibility involves direct collapse, in which a large concentration of gas forms a massive black-hole seed without passing through the usual stages of an ordinary star. A quasi-star phase could occur in some proposed direct-collapse scenarios, but the two ideas are not identical.

Scientists have also investigated primordial black holes, which might have formed from unusually dense regions in the very early universe rather than from collapsing stars. Their existence remains unconfirmed.

Different pathways may have contributed to the early black-hole population. Astronomers are still working to determine which mechanisms operated and how important each one was.

The origin of the first supermassive black holes remains an open question. Quasi-stars offer one intriguing possibility: a young black hole could have grown rapidly while hidden inside an enormous envelope of gas.

Webb's observations are now providing clues about black holes surrounded by dense material, although they have not yet established how the earliest black holes formed. The challenge is to connect these observations with models of how black holes formed and grew during the universe's first billion years.