An international team of astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) found an unusual black hole dating to when the universe was about 660 million years old. The object belongs to the class called Little Red Dots (LRDs) and appears to be a fast-growing black hole enclosed in a huge cocoon of hydrogen gas. The findings suggest the red colour comes from dense gas rather than dust, as earlier assumed. The gas, about 100 billion particles per cubic centimetre and spread over several million kilometres, may explain the rapid growth of early black holes.