Did Massive Stars Composed of Dark Matter Fuel the Early Universe?

Scientists propose that dark matter may have once formed gigantic "dark stars" at the centers of protogalaxies.

By Matt Hrodey
Jul 19, 2023 4:15 PMJul 19, 2023 4:10 PM
Dark stars
These three objects identified by the James Webb Space Telescope could be "dark stars." (Credit: NASA/ESA)

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A new paper proposes that the universe's first stars were about as different from twinkling, sunlike stars as you can get. These "dark stars," it argues, were fueled by huge globs of annihilating dark matter and seeded the galaxies we see today.

Strange as they are, such stellar bodies explain one of the newer mysteries in astronomy.

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