The Cliff (astronomical object)

RUBIES-UDS-154183
	NIRSpec/PRISM spectrum of The Cliff. The orange points show NIRCam and MIRI photometry.
Object type	Little red dot
Other designations	VANDELS UDS 024647, HSCS J021738-050747, RUBIES-UDS-154183, CANDELS UDS F160W J021738.59-050746.9, ZFOURGE UDS 18793, [GGF2013] 24647, [SWM2014] UDS 43002
Observation data; (Epoch J2000)
Constellation	Cetus
Right ascension	02h 17m 38.58s
Declination	−05° 07′ 46.79″
Redshift	3.548
Apparent magnitude	26.718, 25.814, 25.505, 25.197, 24.7611, 23.957, 23.23, 27.783, 25.3882, 25.4561
	[edit on Wikidata]

The Cliff (RUBIES-UDS-154183) is a compact extragalactic object observed as a little red dot with an exceptional (and cliff-like) Balmer jump. It was discovered as part of the James Webb Space Telescope's Red Unknowns: Bright Infrared Extragalactic Survey (RUBIES) in 2024 in the Ultra Deep Survey (UDS). Detailed spectrographic study suggests that it may be a black hole star.^[2]^[3]^[1]^[4]

A spectroscopically similar object, MoM-BH*-1, was reported contemporaneously by an overlapping team, and subsequent observations of other little red dots have provided further evidence for the dense-gas, accreting-black-hole interpretation.^[5]^[6]^[7]

References

1 2 de Graaff, Anna; Rix, Hans-Walter; Naidu, Rohan P.; Labbé, Ivo; Wang, Bingjie; Leja, Joel; Matthee, Jorryt; Katz, Harley; Greene, Jenny E.; Hviding, Raphael E.; Baggen, Josephine; Bezanson, Rachel; Boogaard, Leindert A.; Brammer, Gabriel; Dayal, Pratika (2025). "A remarkable ruby: Absorption in dense gas, rather than evolved stars, drives the extreme Balmer break of a little red dot at z = 3.5". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 701: A168. arXiv:2503.16600. Bibcode:2025A&A...701A.168D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202554681. ISSN 0004-6361.
↑ "Are Black Hole Stars real?". Max Planck Society. September 12, 2025. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
↑ Berard, Adrienne (12 September 2025). "Mysterious 'red dots' in early universe may be 'black hole star' atmospheres". Phys.org.
↑ Clery, Daniel (29 July 2025). "Early universe's 'little red dots' may be black hole stars". Science. 389 (6759): 438–439. doi:10.1126/science.zkd6aas. PMID 40743346. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
↑ "Webb finds strongest evidence yet for "black hole stars"". ESA/Webb. 10 June 2026. Retrieved 2026-08-16.
↑ Naidu, Rohan P.; Matthee, Jorryt; Katz, Harley; de Graaff, Anna; Oesch, Pascal A.; Smith, Aaron; Greene, Jenny E.; Brammer, Gabriel; Weibel, Andrea; Hviding, Raphael; Chisholm, John; Labbé, Ivo; Simcoe, Robert A.; Witten, Callum; Sun, Wendy Q. (12 August 2026). "A gas-enshrouded and gas-reddened black hole at cosmic dawn". Nature. 656 (8127): 329–333. arXiv:2503.16596. Bibcode:2026Natur.656..329N. doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10846-4. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 13468124. PMID 42587117.
↑ Rusakov, V.; Watson, D.; Nikopoulos, G. P.; Brammer, G.; Gottumukkala, R.; Harvey, T.; Heintz, K. E.; Damgaard, R.; Sim, S. A.; Sneppen, A.; Vijayan, A. P.; Adams, N.; Austin, D.; Conselice, C. J.; Goolsby, C. M. (14 January 2026). "Little red dots as young supermassive black holes in dense ionized cocoons". Nature. 649 (8097): 574–579. arXiv:2503.16595. Bibcode:2026Natur.649..574R. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09900-4. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 12804088. PMID 41535486.

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[deGraaff-1] 1 2 de Graaff, Anna; Rix, Hans-Walter; Naidu, Rohan P.; Labbé, Ivo; Wang, Bingjie; Leja, Joel; Matthee, Jorryt; Katz, Harley; Greene, Jenny E.; Hviding, Raphael E.; Baggen, Josephine; Bezanson, Rachel; Boogaard, Leindert A.; Brammer, Gabriel; Dayal, Pratika (2025). "A remarkable ruby: Absorption in dense gas, rather than evolved stars, drives the extreme Balmer break of a little red dot at z = 3.5". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 701: A168. arXiv:2503.16600. Bibcode:2025A&A...701A.168D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202554681. ISSN 0004-6361.

[2] "Are Black Hole Stars real?". Max Planck Society. September 12, 2025. Retrieved 2025-09-12.

[PhysOrg2025-3] Berard, Adrienne (12 September 2025). "Mysterious 'red dots' in early universe may be 'black hole star' atmospheres". Phys.org.

[4] Clery, Daniel (29 July 2025). "Early universe's 'little red dots' may be black hole stars". Science. 389 (6759): 438–439. doi:10.1126/science.zkd6aas. PMID 40743346. Retrieved 2025-09-12.

[5] "Webb finds strongest evidence yet for "black hole stars"". ESA/Webb. 10 June 2026. Retrieved 2026-08-16.

[6] Naidu, Rohan P.; Matthee, Jorryt; Katz, Harley; de Graaff, Anna; Oesch, Pascal A.; Smith, Aaron; Greene, Jenny E.; Brammer, Gabriel; Weibel, Andrea; Hviding, Raphael; Chisholm, John; Labbé, Ivo; Simcoe, Robert A.; Witten, Callum; Sun, Wendy Q. (12 August 2026). "A gas-enshrouded and gas-reddened black hole at cosmic dawn". Nature. 656 (8127): 329–333. arXiv:2503.16596. Bibcode:2026Natur.656..329N. doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10846-4. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 13468124. PMID 42587117.

[7] Rusakov, V.; Watson, D.; Nikopoulos, G. P.; Brammer, G.; Gottumukkala, R.; Harvey, T.; Heintz, K. E.; Damgaard, R.; Sim, S. A.; Sneppen, A.; Vijayan, A. P.; Adams, N.; Austin, D.; Conselice, C. J.; Goolsby, C. M. (14 January 2026). "Little red dots as young supermassive black holes in dense ionized cocoons". Nature. 649 (8097): 574–579. arXiv:2503.16595. Bibcode:2026Natur.649..574R. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09900-4. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 12804088. PMID 41535486.

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