Webb captures evidence of mysterious ‘dark stars’
These three objects were identified by the James Webb Space Telescope Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey in December 2022. They initially were identified as galaxies that existed early in the universe’s history, but some scientists suspect they are ”dark stars”, theoretical objects much bigger and brighter than our sun, powered by particles of dark matter annihilating themselves.
Dark matter, invisible material whose presence is known mainly based on its gravitational effects at a galactic scale, would be a small but crucial ingredient in dark stars. These stars are described as made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium — the two elements present during the universe’s infancy — with 0.1% of their mass in the form of dark matter. But self-annihilating dark matter would be their engine.
Unlike ordinary stars, they would be able to gain mass by accumulating gas falling into them in space. The three objects pegged as potential dark stars date to early in the universe’s history — one from 330 million years after the Big Bang event that got the cosmos going 13.8 billion years ago, and the others from 370 million years and 400 million years after the Big Bang.Based on the Webb data, these objects could be either early galaxies or dark stars, Freese said. “One supermassive dark star is as bright as an entire galaxy, so it could be one or the other.
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