Little Red Dots: A New Mystery of the Universe

In the first hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, objects appeared in the Universe that no one expected to exist. The James Webb Space Telescope discovered them only recently, and today they are considered one of the greatest mysteries in modern astrophysics. These objects have been named “Little Red Dots.” They are unlike young galaxies or familiar supermassive black holes. They are too bright, too compact, and appeared too early to fit existing models of the Universe’s evolution. Recent research offers an unexpected explanation: perhaps they are an entirely new type of cosmic object—Black Hole Stars. If this hypothesis is confirmed, they may prove to be the missing link between the first stars, the earliest quasars, and early galaxies, and could also help resolve one of the major questions in modern cosmology—the so-called “crisis of the early Universe.”

At the lecture, we will explore:
- What exactly the James Webb Space Telescope observed
- Why the “Little Red Dots” have baffled astrophysicists
- What Black Hole Stars are and why the idea has sparked so much discussion
- How new discoveries could change our understanding of the birth of the first galaxies and black holes
- Which questions remain unanswered and what astronomers hope to learn in the coming years

This lecture is about how a single unexpected discovery can change our understanding of the history of the Universe.

When: April 18 at 17:00
Where: Tallink Hotel
The lecture will be held in Russian.

About the speaker: Kirill Maslennikov is an astrophysicist and Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, host of the “Astronomer’s Notes” segment on the QWERTY YouTube channel, and recipient of the Russian Academy of Sciences award for popularising science.

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Please note that tickets are non-refundable, but you can always give them to friends!