Since 2007, astronomers have proposed the existence of a weird type of star: one powered by the heat of dark matter. In cosmology, dark matter is a difficult thing to explain because we literally don't know what it is. We can't see it, hence the name "dark," but without it factored into our equations of the universe, things just don't add up. Learning how certain so-called "dark stars" form would be a major win for better understanding our place in the cosmos. Now, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may have just proven that dark stars exist.
The ancient universe was very different than it is today. Some astronomers believe that before our solar system existed — indeed, before our galaxy was formed — dark stars were abundant. According to this theory, dark stars would have been fueled by large quantities of dark matter that would generate heat. This heat in turn would prevent dark stars from turning into modern stars — the bright, burning kind fueled by nuclear fusion — and, instead, to become enormous clouds of molecular hydrogen and helium.
