The JWST is capable of gauging the light’s wavelengths originating from the early cosmos (Image credit: NASA / dima_zel)
The James Webb telescope’s second most remote object ever observed may be a ‘dark star’ energized by mysterious dark matter, not nuclear reactions.
By scrutinizing the light’s wavelengths gathered by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), investigators have pinpointed four potential dark star objects — with one exhibiting a seemingly definitive helium absorption signature, according to a study the researchers released Sept. 30 in the journal PNAS.
Originally theorized in 2007, dark stars are considered to be within the earliest stars — designated Population III stars — to take shape post Big Bang. As per the theory, they originate when contracting hydrogen and helium, which independently would give rise to a black hole, converge with dark matter. Dark stars are assumed to be exceptionally sizable and radiant, attaining one million times the mass of the sun and shining one billion times as brightly.
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“Our original designation ‘dark star’ is misleading,” study co-author Katherine Freese, a physics professor at The University of Texas at Austin who introduced the dark star theory, shared with Live Science. “They are neither constructed [entirely] of dark matter nor are they dark.”
Discovering dark stars might shed light on some of the perplexing objects that JWST has observed in the early cosmos, like the colossal supermassive black holes that developed unbelievably swiftly, Freese stated. It would also offer understandings of dark matter’s essence. “It’s an exploratory tool, not merely a new kind of star,” she said, “so these prospects are quite heartening to us.”
To spot the prospective dark star objects, the team sifted through observations from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). Their concentration was on information amassed by the Near InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec): a device evaluating the individual wavelengths of light stemming from celestial entities to ascertain their temperatures, dimensions, and chemical compositions.
The researchers established several parameters in their exploration: the signals required a minimum redshift of 10 (a redward stretching of the cosmos’s primeval light equating to 500 million years following the Big Bang), could exclusively comprise hydrogen and helium, and had to originate from a solitary object.
This directed them to four potential dark stars: JADES-GS-z11-0, JADES-GS-z13-0, JADES-GS-z14-0 and JADES-GS-z14-1. JADES-GS-z14-0 is the second most remote entity noticed by JWST until now.
Signals from the first stars
Simulations of each prospect revealed that all four might conceivably be dark stars, perhaps even supermassive ones.
The team also noticed indications of the definitive mark for supermassive dark stars in the JADES-GS-z14-0 wavelength information — singly ionized helium atoms absorbing light particles possessing a 1640 angstrom wavelength (an angstrom equates to one hundred-millionth of a centimeter).
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“No other recognized high redshift entities are anticipated to yield such an absorption characteristic,” the authors stated in the study, reinforcing their proposition that JADES-GS-z14-0 is a dark star.
The team were taken aback, nevertheless, to uncover that the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile had registered JADES-GS-z14-0 emitting oxygen, an element solely synthesized by nuclear fusion-driven stars. “That causes me some worry,” Freese expressed.
The team are presently conducting simulations to establish the oxygen threshold before a dark star can no longer materialize, study co-author Cosmin Ilie, a physicist at Colgate University in New York, disclosed to Live Science. “Logic dictates that a shift should occur,” he conveyed.
Dark stars remain contentious, and their actuality is by no means established. “The majority of the Pop III star community actually discounts the possibility of dark matter burners [dark stars] forming,” Daniel Whalen, a cosmologist at the University of Portsmouth in the U.K. who wasn’t involved in the research, informed Live Science.
Indeed, Whalen indicated that a “major concern” regarding this research is its failure to differentiate between dark stars and supermassive primordial stars. “That’s truly the crux of the issue,” he stated.
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Despite the dark star prospects being more sizable than most supermassive primordial stars, their wavelength information requires assessment against both star classifications to dismiss supermassive primordial stars, Whalen elucidated.
Addressing this critique, Ilie countered that supermassive primordial stars don’t endure as extensively as dark stars; thus, identifying numerous appropriate signatures statistically favors dark stars. That means extensive observations are necessary to resolve this enigma.
Meanwhile, Freese stated that the team is striving to automate the hunt for dark stars within the JWST data “so our only task will be observation.”
TOPICSJames Webb Space Telescope
Sophie BerdugoSocial Links NavigationLive Science Contributor
Sophie is a U.K.-based staff scribe at Live Science. She reports on a diverse set of subjects, having previously reported on investigations varying from bonobo communication to the earliest water in the cosmos. Her writing has further been featured in publications such as New Scientist, The Observer and BBC Wildlife, and she was nominated for the Association of British Science Writers’ 2025 “Newcomer of the Year” distinction for her freelance contributions at New Scientist. Prior to transitioning into a science journalist, she finalized a doctoral degree in evolutionary anthropology from the University of Oxford, where she devoted four years examining why certain chimps excel at tool usage over others.
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