Hyderabad, Aug. 17 -- Hyderabad-born astronomer Rohan Naidu, who once dropped out of engineering college to pursue his passion for the cosmos, is at the centre of a discovery that is challenging conventional ideas about how stars and black holes behave.

Late last week, a team of astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) identified a mysterious object that appeared to blur the line between a star and a black hole. Roughly the size of the solar system and enveloped in a cloud of gas, the object emits about 100 billion times more energy than any known star.

Its unusual characteristics have led researchers to describe it as a "black hole star" in a study recently published in Nature.

Who is Rohan Naidu

This Hyderabad lad lef...