Quasi-star

"Black hole star" redirects here. For black holes created from stars, see Stellar black hole. For stars that become black holes, see Supernova. For types of stars denser than neutron stars, see Exotic star. For the 1994 Soundgarden song, see Black Hole Sun.
Not to be confused with a quasi-stellar object or quasar.

A quasi-star or quasistar (QS), also called a black hole star, is a hypothetical type of extremely massive and luminous star that may have existed early in the history of the universe. Unlike modern stars, which are powered by nuclear fusion in their cores, a quasi-star's energy would come from material falling into a black hole at its core. The formation of such an object would have resulted from the core of a large supermassive protostar collapsing into a stellar-mass black hole, where the outer layers of the protostar are massive enough to absorb the resulting burst of energy without being blown away or falling into the black hole, as occurs with supernovae. They are dubbed as such as they would resemble red giants in structure to an external observer, but scaled-up and powered by an accreting central black hole with luminosities comparable to a Seyfert nucleus.

Quasi-stars were first hypothesized in 2006; although a confirmed observation has not yet been made, potential sightings of these objects have been reported by the James Webb Space Telescope since its launch, with little red dots, such as one called The Cliff, as possible examples and candidates. The study of quasi-stars would provide valuable insight into the early universe, galaxy formation, and the behavior of black holes, namely because they are considered as possible progenitors of the modern supermassive black holes that formed soon after the Big Bang, such as the one in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

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