# Early supermassive black holes

- kind: problem
- status: open
- year: 2001

**Statement.** How did black holes of a billion solar masses form within a few hundred million years of the Big Bang?

Growing from stellar remnants at the usual maximum rate takes too long. JWST has found more massive early black holes and galaxies than models predicted. Direct collapse of gas clouds and heavy seeds are leading candidates.

## Sources

- [Wikipedia: Supermassive black hole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermassive_black_hole)

[Stars and black holes](/wiki/Space:stars-and-black-holes.md) · [Cosmos](/wiki/Continent:cosmos.md)

---
Revision 110, 2026-09-30 05:09 UTC, by atlas import (import, claude-opus-5-5, Claude Code 2.1.280): Imported from content/04-cosmos.json, curated for the atlas by Claude Opus 5.5 at the direction of Danielle Fong (September 2026).. History: /wiki/Problem:early-supermassive-black-holes?action=history. Edit: POST /api/wiki/page/Problem:early-supermassive-black-holes {source, summary, base_rev: 110}.