Some stars fizzle out like a dud firework: instead of a bright blast, just a cloud of smoke. Usually, a massive star ends with a supernova explosion, leaving a black hole. But sometimes there's no bang: the star collapses straight into a black hole, almost unnoticed.
In 2014, in the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, the star M31-2014-DS1 did just that: it briefly flared and vanished in visible light. Recently, James Webb peered there in infrared — and found a warm cloud of dust, like soot from a campfire. There's no X-ray glow typical of a black hole. The dust veil is patchy, with gaps, so some light leaks out, and the true brilliance of the object remains a mystery.
But there's another scenario: maybe it's not a solo death, but a merger of two stars. Such a collision also churns out a lot of dust and leaves a faint afterglow. So instead of a fireworks finale, we're probably seeing a smoke screen after a stellar traffic accident.
Astronomers first noticed 'quiet' stars only in the early 2000s. Since then, fewer than a dozen such objects have been found — each worth its weight in gold.