NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Dale Kocevski (Colby College)
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Topline:
Of all the mysteries that the massive James Webb Space Telescope has seen so far in the early universe, among the strangest are objects that astronomers now call "little red dots."
The mystery: Like the nickname suggests, these celestial objects appear to be compact — much smaller than our Milky Way galaxy. And their color is reddish, although their light signatures are also unusual in ways that astronomers have struggled to explain.
Why now: At a conference of the American Astronomical Society this week, astronomers say they combed through public data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to collect hundreds of examples of little red dots. Their study shows that these cosmic oddballs appear to be a common but transient feature of the early universe.
What they could be: Large galaxies that exist today almost all seem to have a supermassive black hole at their centers, says Dale Kocevski, an astrophysicist at Colby College. A subsample of little red dots that researchers examined in more detail showed light signatures that indicate hot gasses spiraling down into a growing black hole. That could mean the little red dots are, "a potential building block, or maybe the first stage, of producing the galaxies and black holes that we see today," says Kocevski.
Read on ... for more on what scientists think about the mysterious dots.
Of all the mysteries that the massive James Webb Space Telescope has seen so far in the early universe, among the strangest are objects that astronomers now call "little red dots."
Like the nickname suggests, these celestial objects appear to be compact — much smaller than our Milky Way galaxy. And their color is reddish, although their light signatures are also unusual in ways that astronomers have struggled to explain. Now, at a conference of the American Astronomical Society being held this week in Maryland, astronomers say they combed through public data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to collect hundreds of examples of little red dots.
Their study shows that these cosmic oddballs appear to be a common but transient feature of the early universe.
"Essentially, all of them exist back when the universe was a billion years old or younger, and then they petered out," says Dale Kocevski, an astrophysicist at Colby College.
They may only seem to go away because their appearance changes, he says, and "it could be that we're seeing the formation of the core of today's massive galaxies."
Large galaxies that exist today almost all seem to have a supermassive black hole at their centers, he notes. A subsample of little red dots that researchers examined in more detail showed light signatures that indicate hot gasses spiraling down into a growing black hole.
That could mean the little red dots are, "a potential building block, or maybe the first stage, of producing the galaxies and black holes that we see today," says Kocevski.
Breaking the universe
The enormous $10 billion JWST is about a million miles away from Earth, and it's able to detect extremely faint objects that the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes never saw.
When the little red dots first showed up in some of JWST's early observations, in December of 2022, it was a surprise.
These faint objects are so far away that the light has to travel for billions of years before it's finally detected by the telescope, which means the light reveals how the universe appeared in its early stages of development.
The bright little red dots initially looked to be massive galaxies putting out dust-reddened starlight, but no one could understand how Milky Way-sized galaxies could have built up that fast, so soon after the Big Bang.
People started talking "about how JWST was breaking the existing theories of universe formation," says Kocevski, "because these things were too massive too early on in the history of the universe."
In early 2023, however, he and some colleagues examined a little red dot and detected light signatures indicative of gas rapidly spinning down into a black hole.
So they wondered if it could be that the light from little red dots could be coming from both a growing black hole and the stars in a small host galaxy, rather than stars alone.
"They may not be these massive galaxies," says Kocevski.
He and his colleagues wanted to see if other little red dots had signs of a black hole lurking within, so they searched through public data, hunting for as many objects with the specific features of little red dots that they could find.
Looking at 341 of them revealed that these objects mostly appeared around 600 million years after the big bang and then declined, disappearing by about 1.5 billion years ago.
Hotly debated
A subset of a couple dozen little red dots had additional data available, 80% of them showed those same signs of gas spiraling into a black hole, Kocevski says.
"So it does look like there's a good chance that these are actively accreting supermassive black holes," he says. "The thing that's surprising is they're just really, really common. They're much more common than we would have anticipated."
Still, some astronomers continue to believe that little red dots are, in fact, massive galaxies, he says.
Little red dots aren't bright in X-ray light, which would normally be seen from black holes. It may be, however, that gases are obscuring this form of light.
"It's been a very, very healthy academic debate as to what's going on with these things," he says. "It's exciting because rarely do you find a population of objects where you say, 'I simply don't know what's going on here.' "
Copyright 2025 NPR
Crews have now recovered the bodies of all nine backcountry skiers who were killed in an avalanche in Northern California earlier this week. It marks an end to what authorities on Saturday described as an agonizing five-day search and recovery operation complicated by intense winter storms northwest of Lake Tahoe.
Why now: Until Saturday, authorities had not confirmed the death of a ninth victim, a skier who had been missing and presumed dead. Officials say their body was found near the eight other victims that have now been recovered.
Updated February 22, 2026 at 12:04 PM ET
Crews have now recovered the bodies of all nine backcountry skiers who were killed in an avalanche in Northern California earlier this week. It marks an end to what authorities on Saturday described as an agonizing five-day search and recovery operation complicated by intense winter storms northwest of Lake Tahoe.
"While we wish we could have saved them all, we are grateful that we can bring them home," said Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon during a Saturday news conference.
Until Saturday, authorities had not confirmed the death of a ninth victim, a skier who had been missing and presumed dead. Officials say their body was found near the eight other victims that have now been recovered. Authorities said avalanche hazards and weather conditions were too dangerous most of the week to search for the remaining victim or recover the bodies.
Four of the bodies were recovered on Friday, and the rest of the bodies were recovered on Saturday, all in the Castle Peak area where the avalanche – one of the deadliest in California history — struck. Six people from the group of 15 skiers survived Tuesday's disaster, the last day of a three-day backcountry ski trip. One guide and five travelers were among the survivors.
Helicopters with the California National Guard as well as the California Highway Patrol were used to hoist the remaining bodies from the mountain, officials said at the press conference.
On Friday, officials were able to use specialized techniques with the help of Pacific Gas & Electric to reduce the avalanche risk.
The ski trip was organized by Blackbird Mountain Guides, an outdoor tour company based in Truckee, Calif. Moon confirmed the identities of the victims. Three guides were killed: Andrew Alissandratos, 34, from Verdi, Nev.; Michael Henry, 30, from Soda Springs, Calif.; and Nicole Choo, 42, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif. The other victims, who had signed up for the group trip, are: Carrie Atkin, 46, of Soda Springs; Lizabeth Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho; Danielle Keatley, 44, of Soda Springs and Larkspur, Calif.; Kate Morse, 45, of Soda Springs and Tiburon, Calif.; Caroline Sekar, 45, of Soda Springs and San Francisco; and Katherine Vitt, 43, of Greenbrae, Calif.
"A D2 would take down a person. A D3 would take down a house, so it was right in between those. It was described by them as a football field length of a path of the avalanche," Sheriff Moon said on Saturday.
Multiple agencies are investigating.
"We are investigating the incident to determine if there were any factors that would be considered criminal negligence," Ashley Quadros with the Nevada County Sheriff's Office said in an email to NPR on Sunday. "It is a standard investigation. It is too early to know if criminal charges will be applicable, as the investigation is preliminary and remains active and ongoing."
The area will be closed to visitors for several weeks.
"Donald Trump is violating the law and constitution. He's ignoring court orders. He has weaponized the Justice Department to go after his enemies. He is letting loose ice troops in our streets that are getting people killed. I will not be attending the State of the Union. I've never missed one. I have always gone both to inaugurations and to states of the Union, but we cannot treat this as normal," he said in his message.
What's next: Instead, Schiff plans to attend The People's State of the Union, organized by Democratic advocacy organizations MoveOn and MeidasTouch on the National Mall that same night, joining a number of Democratic lawmakers who'll also be skipping President Trump's address to the nation on Tuesday.
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It's a musical instrument that weighs over 100 lbs
Robert Garrova
explores the weird and secret bits of SoCal that would excite even the most jaded Angelenos. He also covers mental health.
Published February 22, 2026 5:00 AM
Ariel Campos plays the marimba at a recent marimba salon
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Courtesy Ariel Campos
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Topline:
Local non-profit SoCal Marimbas is dedicated to the promotion of marimba performance. And you can catch live performance at a 'marimba salon' near you.
The backstory: A percussion instrument deeply-rooted in African music, the marimba shows up in everything from atonal avant-garde pieces to modern American pop songs. And yes, many people might know about its clear, playful tones through the iPhone ringtone of the same name.
A marimba club? But with its couch-sized layout of wooden bars and metal resonators, it's not always as accessible as say a guitar or more compact instrument.
Ariel Campos, director of Southern California Marimbas, hopes to change that. He and his colleagues put on regular 'marimba salons' where you can hear a wide-array of music performed on the percussion instrument, from pop to atonal music.
Read on ... to learn about the next event, and find out why Campos fell in love with the instrument.
A percussion instrument deeply-rooted in African music, the marimba shows up in everything from atonal avant-garde pieces to modern American pop songs. And yes, many people might know about its clear, playful tones through the iPhone ringtone of the same name.
But with its couch-sized layout of wooden bars and metal resonators, it's not always as accessible as say a guitar or more compact instrument.
Enter a man and a local non-profit on a mission to bring marimba to the masses.
From his home studio, Ariel Campos remembered one of the first times he really got intrigued by the marimba. He was listening to local radio.
“And I hear Tom Waits ‘Swordfishtrombone.’ That was like before Shazam and all that. And I was like, ‘what’s going on over here?!’” he said.
Campos teaches percussion at Mt. San Antonio College and he’s director of Southern California Marimba, a group dedicated to the promotion of marimba performance.
With its roots in Africa, Campos said American history is rich with the sounds of the marimba. That includes musicians like Clair Omar Musser, who toured with the instrument -- which can weigh hundreds of pounds -- back in the 1920s.
In his studio filled with an array of other percussion instruments, Campos explained that the marimba is usually played with two, four or even six mallets. When I met with him earlier this month, he demonstrated the dexterity needed to pull that off on his own antique marimba: A hulking Deagan marimba he estimates was built in the 1920s.
Campos said he’s also interested in the rich marimba heritage of countries like Mexico and Guatemala, where the instrument is still very much alive.
In Guatemala, where the marimba is the national instrument, it’s not uncommon for three or more people to play the same instrument at the same time, Campos said.
“There’s a great band right now from Mexico. They’re called Son Rompe Pera,” Campos said. “Their slogan is like: cumbia is the new punk. And so they play cumbia punk music on the marimba.”
A working musician who’s played marimba with acts like Brooks and Dunn, Campos has a wide repertoire: from classical to pop songs like the Los Bukis classic, “Tu Cárcel.”
For over a year now, Campos and his colleagues at Southern California Marimbas have brought an eclectic array of live marimba music to audiences in L.A. He calls them ‘marimba salons’ and they even include some of his weirder, more avant-garde creations. For some of his atonal pieces, Campos uses his fingers, bare hands and even a bass bow to bring out the more subtle sounds of the instrument.
Campos said his goal with the marimba salons is to bring the marimba out of the academic setting and into neighborhoods where people can experience it up close.
“It’s the idea of bringing people together, especially now, in these times. We need to build a sense of community. And that can look however we want it to look,” Campos said.
“And I think using the marimba to do that is a great opportunity.”
The next SoCal Marimba salon is coming up on Sunday March 22 at 8pm at Sunspace in Shadow Hills.
Mt. San Antonio College will also host a marimba festival and competition July 25-26. Check out Southern California Marimba’s website for more info as it becomes available.
Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published February 22, 2026 5:00 AM
Inside East L.A. Film Shop.
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Fiona Ng
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LAist
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Topline:
East L.A. Film Shop started in 2020, when owners Frank Ledezma and Jennyfer Gramajo needed to pivot their event photography business as the pandemic shut everything down. So they started to sell film for old-school cameras.
Why it matters: Unlike many pandemic-era businesses, East L.A. Film Shop not just survived, but thrived after COVID 19. And now, the husband and wife team is turning their shop into a community space for the neighborhood and beyond.
Read on ... to learn about their story, and a cool event happening there Sunday.
In early 2020, Frank Ledezma and Jennyfer Gramajo moved into a new storefront for their event photography business on First Street in East L.A.
But like the story of so many small businesses during the pandemic shutdown, the husband-and-wife team soon found themselves needing to pivot.
"We would do events for quinceañeras, baptisms, weddings," Gramajo said. "At that moment, all of our events were canceled."
Unlike the roller-coaster experiences that have defined so many mom-and-pops, though, their East L.A. Film Shop has been a story of unexpected success.
Inside East L.A. Film Shop.
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Fiona Ng
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LAist
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Selling rolls
Gramajo and Ledezma went from shooting photos to selling film to photographers, during a crazy-making time when there probably wasn't a better way to kill time than to take your camera out and capture a suspended world.
"You couldn't find film. People were still shooting," Ledezma said. "People still wanted to go out and shoot."
The couple was already selling some photo supplies before the pandemic, but not much. After the lockdown, Gramajo said Ledezma asked her if he should pour their savings to go all in on the switch, based off a friend's suggestion, on a wing and a prayer.
"I'm like, 'Well, I think you should just buy a couple of rolls and see how it goes,'" Gramajo remembered.
Frank Ledezma and Jennyfer Gramajo, the husband and wife owners of East L.A. Film Shop.
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Fiona Ng
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LAist
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East L.A. Film Shop
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Fiona Ng
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LAist
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With that, East L.A. Film Shop was born.
The couple started advertising their goods on social media. As word of mouth spread, customers sought them out.
" We started meeting people like at the Jack in the Box parking lot. We would go deliver film like if it was Uber Eats," Gramajo said.
" They were like, 'Oh, go with Frank. They have it in stock. They always have it in stock,'" Ledezma said.
After reopening, the demand for film rolls stayed strong, so much so that East L.A. Film Shop expanded their offering to include film development and other services. Their clientele, Gramajo said, has always run the gamut, from seasoned pros to novices, including an elderly man who needed help loading a new roll into his old camera, or a woman who brought her kid to get a crash course on all the different knobs and buttons.
"Film Foos" hats for sale at East L.A. Film Shop.
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Fiona Ng
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LAist
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Since last year, East L.A. Film Shop has relocated to the storefront next door, a much bigger space to accommodate more equipment and a growing staff.
The extra room also allows the couple to create a community space for music, photo exhibits and more.
On Sunday, East L.A. Film shop is hosting its monthly "Barrios Sunday," where small local vendors are invited to set up shop for the day to sell their goods and get the word out about their business.
The couple is also asking photographers — analog and digital — to post their photos on the walls of the shop. The works will be displayed for a week.
As for Ledezma and Gramajo, they still go out and shoot. It's a kind of second nature — especially for Ledezma, who grew up helping his father, an event photographer himself, on his shoots.
"When I open a fresh roll, like the smell, it takes you back [to] when I was a kid and my dad's like, 'Oh, gimme this roll,’" he said. "You still get that smell of fresh film. You know, it just takes you back."
Barrio Sunday
East L.A. Film Shop 3541 1st St., Los Angeles Feb 22. Sun., 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
