Welcome to Quantum Magazine's podcast.

Each episode we bring you stories about developments in science and mathematics.

I'm Susan Valid.

Giant black holes were supposed to be bit players in the early cosmic story.

But recent James Webb Space Telescope observations are finding an unexpected

abundance of the beasts. That's next.

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Years before she was even sure the James Webb Space Telescope would successfully launch,

Christina Eilers started planning a conference for astronomers specializing

in the early universe. She knew that if, preferably when, the web telescope started making

observations, she and her colleagues would have a lot to talk about. Like a time machine,

the telescope could see farther away and farther into the past than any previous instrument.

On Christmas Day in 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope launched.

It later deployed without a hitch, then started scrutinizing the early universe in earnest from its perch in space a million miles away.

In June of 2023, about 150 astronomers gathered at MIT for Eiler's first light conference

about the telescope. Not quite a year had passed since the web started sending images back

to Earth, and just as Eilers had anticipated, the web started sending images back to Earth. And just as Iler's had anticipated,

the telescope was already reshaping astronomers' understanding of the cosmos's first billion years.

One set of mysterious objects stood out in the myriad of presentations. Some astronomers

...