James Webb telescope may have spotted theoretical 'dark stars'

The James Webb Space Telescope may have spotted theoretical "dark stars" glowing in the distant past, according to a new study.

The astrophysicists behind the study say dark stars would be fuelled by colliding dark matter, a mysterious and hypothetical form of matter that is thought to make up about 25 per cent of the universe.  

"Discovering a new type of star is pretty interesting all by itself, but discovering it’s dark matter that’s powering this—that would be huge," study co-author and University of Texas physics professor Katherine Freese said in a news release. "And believe it or not, one dark star has enough light to compete with an entire galaxy of stars."

Dark stars could also be significantly larger than stars like our sun, which are powered when atoms meld together in a process known as fusion. While dark matter and dark stars remain hypothetical, Freese says their existence would help solve discrepancies between theories of galaxy formation and recent James Webb telescope observations.

"When we look at the James Webb data, there are two competing possibilities for these objects," Freese said. "One is that they are galaxies containing millions of ordinary, population-III stars. The other is that they are dark stars."

The three proposed dark stars are named JADES-GS-z13-0, JADES-GS-z12-0, and JADES-GS-z11-0. They were first spotted in Dec. 2022 and were observed at times ranging from 320 to 400 million years after the Big Bang, which makes them some of the earliest objects ever seen.

The team wants to continue studying the three objects with the James Webb telescope. Launched in 2021, the space-based telescope has provided unparalleled glimpses of planets, stars, galaxies and other celestial phenomena.

Freese and colleagues first proposed the existence of dark stars in 2008. Their latest study was published last week in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We predicted back in 2012 that supermassive dark stars could be observed with (the James Webb Space Telescope)," co-author and Cosmin Ilie from New York state's Colgate University said. "I am confident we will soon identify many more."