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ScienceQuiet 5d · day 6

Webb telescope data hints at dark-matter-powered "dark stars" from cosmic dawn

Cosmologist Katherine Freese says a handful of ultra-bright, high-redshift JWST objects could be primordial stars fueled by dark matter rather than fusion.

newest coverage 5d agosummary written 4d ago3 pieces39 likes & upvotes3 comments MastodonGoogle NewsBluesky

What to know

  • Dark stars are a hypothesized class of first-generation stars made only of hydrogen and helium, powered by dark matter annihilation rather than nuclear fusion.
  • Of 700 candidate early-universe objects spotted in JWST's 2022 data, only nine have spectra precise enough to analyze; one is a confirmed galaxy and three remain ambiguous between galaxy and dark star.
  • Dark stars could grow to a million solar masses and a billion times the Sun's brightness, and their collapse could seed the puzzlingly early billion-solar-mass black holes already observed.
  • The research is led by cosmologist Katherine Freese of the University of Texas at Austin's Weinberg Institute for Theoretical Physics.

“If we had many black hole ‘seeds’ weighing one million times our Sun’s mass, and they merged, then it could be possible to produce a supermassive black hole this early.”

Katherine Freese, Director, Weinberg Institute for Theoretical Physics, UT Austin · BBC Sky at Night Magazine ↗ · Sep 18

Katherine Freese Director, Weinberg Institute for Theoretical Physics, UT Austin

Webb telescope data hints at dark-matter-powered "dark stars" from cosmic dawn
skyatnightmagazine.com

How it unfolded 3 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesposts

Peak 1 piece in two hours at Sep 19, 1 AM; 3 pieces over 6 days (1 article · 2 posts) Sep 19, 1 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Google News 1Sep 19, 3 AM — quietSep 19, 5 AM — quietSep 19, 7 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Sep 19, 9 AM — quietSep 19, 11 AM — quietSep 19, 1 PM — quietSep 19, 3 PM — quietSep 19, 5 PM — quietSep 19, 7 PM — quietSep 19, 9 PM — quietSep 19, 11 PM — quietSep 20, 1 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Bluesky 1Sep 20, 3 AM — quietSep 20, 5 AM — quietSep 20, 7 AM — quietSep 20, 9 AM — quietSep 20, 11 AM — quietSep 20, 1 PM — quietSep 20, 3 PM — quietSep 20, 5 PM — quietSep 20, 7 PM — quietSep 20, 9 PM — quietSep 20, 11 PM — quietSep 21, 1 AM — quietSep 21, 3 AM — quietSep 21, 5 AM — quietSep 21, 7 AM — quietSep 21, 9 AM — quietSep 21, 11 AM — quietSep 21, 1 PM — quietSep 21, 3 PM — quietSep 21, 5 PM — quietSep 21, 7 PM — quietSep 21, 9 PM — quietSep 21, 11 PM — quietSep 22, 1 AM — quietSep 22, 3 AM — quietSep 22, 5 AM — quietSep 22, 7 AM — quietSep 22, 9 AM — quietSep 22, 11 AM — quietSep 22, 1 PM — quietSep 22, 3 PM — quietSep 22, 5 PM — quietSep 22, 7 PM — quietSep 22, 9 PM — quietSep 22, 11 PM — quietSep 23, 1 AM — quietSep 23, 3 AM — quietSep 23, 5 AM — quietSep 23, 7 AM — quietSep 23, 9 AM — quietSep 23, 11 AM — quietSep 23, 1 PM — quietSep 23, 3 PM — quietSep 23, 5 PM — quietSep 23, 7 PM — quietSep 23, 9 PM — quietSep 23, 11 PM — quietYesterday, 1 AM — quietYesterday, 3 AM — quietYesterday, 5 AM — quietYesterday, 7 AM — quietYesterday, 9 AM — quietYesterday, 11 AM — quietYesterday, 1 PM — quietYesterday, 3 PM — quietYesterday, 5 PM — quietYesterday, 7 PM — quietYesterday, 9 PM — quietYesterday, 11 PM — quietToday, 1 AM — quiet 123
Sep 20Sep 21Sep 22Sep 23yesterdaynow · 3:52 AM ET
  1. 3

    Bluesky user highlights black-hole-formation implication

    A Bluesky post summarizes the findings for a general audience, emphasizing that collapsing dark stars could explain unexpectedly massive early supermassive black holes.

    “webb might've spotted dark stars powered by dark matter in the early universe. these could get to 1M solar masses and 1B solar brightness... fascinating stuff.”
    — astra99.bsky.social
    • astra99.bsky.social

      webb might've spotted dark stars powered by dark matter in the early universe. these could get to 1M solar masses and 1B solar brightness. wild to think their collapse could explain early supermassive black holes ~1B solar masses. fascinating stuff.

      astra99.bsky.socialBluesky5d ago39▲view on Bluesky ↗
  2. 2

    Coverage circulates across social platforms

    The dark stars report spreads via aggregator and fediverse reposts, including a Mastodon share into a space-focused community feed.

  3. 1

    Freese's team flags candidate 'dark stars' among JWST objects

    Researchers, including Katherine Freese of the University of Texas at Austin, report that of the nine JWST objects with measured spectra, one is confirmed to be an early galaxy while three could be either galaxies or dark stars made only of hydrogen and helium.

    “We figured out that after a chain of reactions, the dark matter particles could annihilate each other and end up mostly as photons and other particles.”
    — Katherine Freese
    1. 1 outlet Webb Telescope may have uncovered ancient stars powered by dark matter

      first by BBC Sky at Night Magazine, 6d ago

  4. background

    JWST captures spectra of 700 candidate early-universe objects — James Webb Space Telescope data from 2022 identified 700 probable early-universe objects, of which only nine have measured spectra precise enough for analysis.