Can dark matter shine bright?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Dark matter is an invisible substance all around us, with gravitational pull. We don’t know what it’s made of, or where it came from… but ancient stars might illuminate the picture.
It’s theorized that stars formed in the early universe are powered by dark matter. These stars would emit very specific types of light.
Cosmin Ilie and team at Colgate University, are looking for those stars.
AND? They recently found promising candidates!
If there are dark stars, it would open new avenues to study this mysterious material.
Whatever dark matter is, the answer may be written in the stars.
Reference: C. Ilie, S.S. Mahmud, J. Paulin, & K. Freese, Spectroscopic Supermassive Dark Star candidates, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 122 (40) e2513193122, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2513193122 (2025).