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Several theoretical scenarios have been proposed to seed and rapidly grow black holes\n                    <jats:sup>2\u20134<\/jats:sup>\n                    , but direct observations of these mechanisms remain elusive. Here we present a source 660 million years after the Big Bang that exhibits singular properties: among the largest hydrogen Balmer breaks reported at any redshift, broad multi-peaked H\u03b2 emission, and Balmer line absorption in several transitions. We model this source as an enshrouded black hole in which the Balmer break and absorption features are a result of extremely dense, turbulent gas forming a dust-free envelope around a supermassive black hole\n                    <jats:sup>5,6<\/jats:sup>\n                    . This source may provide evidence of an early black hole embedded in dense gas\u2014a theoretical configuration proposed to rapidly grow black holes by super-Eddington accretion\n                    <jats:sup>7,8<\/jats:sup>\n                    . Radiation from the black hole seems to dominate almost all observed light, leaving limited room for contribution from its host galaxy. If the source merged with its brighter neighbour, it would resemble the recently discovered \u2018little red dots\u2019 with perplexing spectral energy distributions\n                    <jats:sup>9\u201311<\/jats:sup>\n                    . The redness of the black hole is due to gas, not dust\n                    <jats:sup>12,13<\/jats:sup>\n                    , and scattering, not kinematics, gives rise to the complex line shapes and luminosities\u2014black hole masses of these sources may therefore be overestimated by orders of magnitude.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-026-10846-4","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T15:02:31Z","timestamp":1786546951000},"page":"329-333","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":31,"title":["A gas-enshrouded and gas-reddened black hole at cosmic dawn"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"656","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3997-5705","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rohan P.","family":"Naidu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2871-127X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorryt","family":"Matthee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Harley","family":"Katz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2380-9801","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anna","family":"de Graaff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5851-6649","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pascal A.","family":"Oesch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2838-9033","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aaron","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5612-3427","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jenny E.","family":"Greene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2680-005X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gabriel","family":"Brammer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8928-4465","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrea","family":"Weibel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4684-9005","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Raphael","family":"Hviding","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"John","family":"Chisholm","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ivo","family":"Labb\u00e9","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Robert A.","family":"Simcoe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Callum","family":"Witten","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wendy Q.","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hakim","family":"Atek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Josephine F. 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