A team of researchers has proposed a new explanation for the rapid growth of supermassive black holes in the early universe. According to their simulations, collisions between stars in the early universe were common, leading to the formation of over-massive stars that could collapse into massive black holes. These collisions were possible because the early universe had densely packed stellar systems, where stars frequently slammed into each other. While high-speed collisions would have destroyed the stars involved, slower collisions led to repeated mergers, creating single over-massive stars. These stars could then collapse and form larger-than-usual black holes at the end of their lives. The researchers found that stars could even merge repeatedly within a cluster until they formed a gigantic star with a mass equal to that of an entire cluster. This massive star would then collapse into a massive black hole. The existence of supermassive black holes before the universe was 1 billion years old has puzzled astronomers since the James Webb Space Telescope started spotting them in 2022. The new research provides a possible explanation for this phenomenon. The simulations suggest that the early universe's densely packed stellar systems were conducive to the formation of over-massive stars, which could then collapse into massive black holes. This theory could help explain the rapid growth of supermassive black holes and the existence of mysterious Little Red Dots seen by the James Webb Space Telescope.