Recent findings from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) suggest that “dark stars” might help unravel some cosmic mysteries from the universe’s early days. These include the unexpected number of supermassive black holes, the discovery of “blue monster” galaxies, and the puzzling “little red dots.” The latter is a newly identified class of objects that seem to have vanished shortly after the cosmos began, before it was just 2 billion years old.
Dark stars are theoretical entities that may have existed when the universe was still young. Unlike regular stars that rely on nuclear fusion for energy, dark stars are thought to be powered by dark matter particle annihilation. Even though they’re called “dark,” these stars would have actually shone very brightly.
According to Cosmin Ilie, a researcher at Colgate University, the data collected by the JWST highlights significant aspects of the dark star concept. If dark stars existed, they could have formed earlier than ordinary stars, using ultradense dark matter cores. When these cores run out, the stars might collapse, creating massive “seeds” for supermassive black holes.
These seeds would be much larger than the black holes formed from collapsing massive stars, allowing supermassive black holes to appear much sooner than previously thought. This could explain why JWST has detected numerous supermassive black holes less than a billion years after the Big Bang.
But that’s not all. JWST has also spotted incredibly bright and compact galaxies, dubbed “blue monsters.” These don’t fit any existing models of galaxy formation. Researchers now think these might actually be luminous dark stars, not galaxies packed with stars as once believed.
Then there’s the mystery of the “little red dots.” Although these are fainter, they are remarkably compact. They emit little ultraviolet light and no X-rays, which baffles scientists. The hypothesis is that when dark stars collapse, they could form black holes still surrounded by stellar material. This might partially block UV light and completely hide X-ray emissions, unlike dust halos from galaxies.
While dark stars remain theoretical, evidence is slowly starting to emerge. This research opens new doors for understanding star formation and the universe’s evolution.
In December 2025, details of this research were published in the journal Astrophysics and Cosmology at High Z. The findings underscore how supermassive dark stars might resolve several uncertainties in astronomy, making them a promising area for future research.
