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Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

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Meet the ‘Red Potato’: A Massive Galaxy That Stopped Making Stars

In a groundbreaking discovery, astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have identified a massive, quiescent galaxy they’ve nicknamed “Red Potato.” This unusual galaxy, found in a dense region of the early universe, challenges current understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. The discovery was reported in a research paper published on January 28, 2026, on the arXiv pre-print server.

A Cosmic Potato Emerges

The team, led by Weichen Wang from the University of Milan, Italy, stumbled upon this galaxy while observing a gas-rich cosmic web node known as MQN01, located at a redshift of 3.25, corresponding to a time when the universe was roughly two billion years old.

Cosmic web nodes are dense intersections in the large-scale structure of the universe, often rich in cool and molecular gas. These nodes and protoclusters are considered fertile grounds for the rapid formation of massive galaxies. It was while examining MQN01 with JWST’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) that the astronomers identified the strange, reddish galaxy.

Because of its distinct red color and rounded shape, the team affectionately dubbed it “Red Potato.”

“In this work, we present the discovery of a massive quiescent galaxy in a gas-rich environment of a cosmic web node or protocluster at z ∼ 3.2, identified and spectroscopically confirmed from a JWST program,” the researchers noted in their paper.

Understanding the Red Potato

The Red Potato, formally cataloged as MQN01 J004131.9-493704, is enormous by early universe standards. Its half-light radius, the region containing half of the galaxy’s total light, is about 3,260 light-years, and it boasts a stellar mass of 110 billion solar masses—more than twice the mass of the Milky Way.

Despite its massive size, the galaxy is surprisingly quiet. Measurements show a molecular gas mass of less than 7 billion solar masses, resulting in a molecular gas fraction of under 6%, meaning very little of the material needed for star formation remains. Observations also revealed no detectable carbon monoxide or sodium D-lines, confirming that the galaxy is poor in molecular and neutral gas, the raw material for forming new stars.

Interestingly, the galaxy’s star-formation rate (SFR) is only about 4 solar masses per year. While this may sound like a lot, it is actually at least ten times lower than what is typical for galaxies of similar mass and redshift, placing the Red Potato well below the star-forming main sequence (SFMS). In simpler terms, the galaxy is massive but barely forming new stars, earning it the title of a quiescent galaxy.

The Role of Cosmic Turbulence

One of the most striking findings is the stellar velocity dispersion in Red Potato, measured at 268 km/s. This high speed indicates significant gas turbulence in the galaxy’s surrounding medium, known as the circumgalactic medium (CGM).

Further observations with deep X-ray imaging revealed the likely presence of an extended X-ray jet. This jet appears to originate from a nearby active galactic nucleus (AGN), a supermassive black hole emitting high-energy radiation. Scientists believe this jet-mode feedback is stirring the gas in the Red Potato’s environment, preventing it from cooling and flowing into the galaxy—a process known as gas accretion. Without fresh gas inflow, the galaxy cannot form new stars efficiently, explaining its quiescent nature despite residing in a gas-rich cosmic neighborhood.

“We argue that the jet feedback may have led to increased CGM turbulence around the Red Potato and thus reduced the gas accretion onto the galaxy,” the researchers concluded. This highlights the delicate interplay between galaxies and their environment, even in the universe’s early stages.

Why This Discovery Matters

The discovery of the Red Potato is significant for several reasons:

  1. Challenges Existing Models: Traditional models suggest that massive galaxies in the early universe should be forming stars rapidly, especially in gas-rich environments. The Red Potato defies this expectation, showing that massive galaxies can remain quiescent even amid abundant surrounding gas.

  2. Insights Into Galaxy Evolution: Understanding why galaxies like the Red Potato stop forming stars provides clues about the processes that regulate star formation, including AGN feedback, gas turbulence, and environmental effects in cosmic web nodes.

  3. Demonstrates JWST’s Power: This discovery highlights the unprecedented capabilities of JWST, particularly its ability to probe the early universe in infrared wavelengths, revealing galaxies and structures that were previously invisible.

  4. A New Laboratory for Cosmic Studies: Being a massive, quiescent galaxy in a gas-rich environment, the Red Potato serves as a natural laboratory to study how galaxies interact with their surroundings, shedding light on the life cycles of galaxies billions of years ago.

Looking Ahead

The Red Potato opens a new window into the early universe, prompting astronomers to ask: How many massive, quiescent galaxies exist in gas-rich environments? And what mechanisms are responsible for halting star formation so early in cosmic history?

Future observations with JWST, ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array), and other observatories will help answer these questions. By studying galaxies like the Red Potato, scientists hope to better understand the complex feedback processes that shape galaxy evolution, from the tiniest dwarfs to the largest giants.

Conclusion

The Red Potato is a fascinating cosmic anomaly: a massive, silent galaxy quietly existing in a boisterous, gas-filled neighborhood of the early universe. Its discovery is a testament to the power of modern astronomy and the transformative insights provided by JWST.

As astronomers continue to map the universe in unprecedented detail, more surprises like the Red Potato are likely to emerge, challenging our understanding of how galaxies grow, evolve, and interact with the cosmos around them. In the words of the research team, this discovery represents a key piece of the cosmic puzzle, revealing that even in the universe’s youth, galaxies can live quiet, solitary lives amidst the chaos of their surroundings.

Publication Details:
Weichen Wang et al., A Quiescent Galaxy in a Gas-Rich Cosmic Web Node at z~3, arXiv (2026). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2601.20473

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