Physicists have determined that a strange defect in space known as a topological soliton could be indistinguishable from a black hole — until it was viewed up close. At present, the object is a purely “hypothetical mathematical construction” of the US-based research team, and so may not exist out in our universe. However, they said, the fact that it is possible to construct it with mathematical equations and simulate what it might look like at various scales “suggests there could be other types of celestial bodies in space hiding from even the best telescopes on Earth”.