A Journey into Deep Space

A Journey To Deep Space & The Edge of Forever. A new study authored by University of Utah astrophysicist Paolo Gondolo shows that the first stars, born nearly 13 billion years ago, may have been 400 to 200,000 times larger than our sun and heavily influenced by dark matter, an invisible element that scientists say makes up most of the universe. Those "dark stars" were named by Gondolo's colleagues astrophysicist Katherine Freese of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and graduate student Douglas Spolyar of the University of California at Santa Cruz, after the song "Dark Star" by The Grateful Dead. They may still be in existence, though they don't produce light and instead likely emit infrared energy, or heat, which can be picked up only by space-based telescopes.
Astrophysicists previously thought dark matter played heavily into the formation of the universe, but never the formation of the earliest stars. Previously, stars were thought to form when hydrogen and helium atoms clumped and swirled together in what's called a proto-stellar cloud. They began to cool and collapse and become denser.
That cooling and shrinking continues until the fusion of hydrogen into helium begins, which causes the star to emit light, Gondolo said. The new findings suggest that dark matter interacted and broke down, producing heat instead of light. As a proto-stellar cloud of hydrogen and helium tried to cool and shrink, the dark matter would keep it hot and large, preventing fusion from making the star shine. "A star that . . . is not powered by nuclear fusion is a unique thing," Gondolo said. "It may point to the nature of dark matter." The research has several implications for the study of the creation of the earliest stars, including how black holes may have formed in the relatively short time frame of 10,000 to 100,000 years.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• cosmic
• galaxy
• planets
• supernova
• star
• astronaut
• nebula
• journey
• deep
• Space
• life
• travel
• astronuat
• solar
• system

[UTD111]

I've always find this subject fascinating ever since I studied astronomy as a childhood hobby - it really reminds us how we have existed for only a microsecond of time and how small and insignificant we are - think I'd better get another beer!

Very well put together - well done!!

[aliceangel7]

Reply to UTD111: I couldn't agree more. I've always loved astronomy. The universe is so large and old and beautiful, and our life as an intelligent species is so brief, that all our knowledge is like a tiny hint surrounded by a void.

[ripticdu]

I had to watch the photos in silence or the music might have turned my dog gay.

[Olala3000]

there might be lives somewhere else in the universe, for we see them as what they were trillion years ago.

[happinesson]

only God can do this wonderful creation! The video is so relaxing..

[FIGHTFANNERD3]

@coolgalaxy lol god just jokeing

[crh2964]

Que nadie venga a decirme que solo el ser humano vive en el universo, que no me vengan a decir que Dios hizo el universo para el hombre, porque de que le ha servido a la fecha. Como pretendemos hechar mano a esos lugares, si, ni siquiera pòdemos vivir en armonía en el nuestro, Existen seres superiores en esos lugares y la pregunta siempre será la misma, ¿porque no han contactado? pues la respuesta es simple, PORQUE PODEMOS CORROMPER SU ARMONIA, PARA ESO SI SOMOS BUENOS.

[yummypieProductions]

Grrrr I hate WMG

[TheStockwell]

@Olala3000 This is me being picky - nothing personal. "Trillions" is way off. The current thinking by smarty pants astroguys and gals has the universe's age at about 14 billion years. The video's description says pretty much the same thing, IF you read it. A billion is mucho mucho smaller than a trillion. No big deal. (I have a friend working at JPL and he's got me trained to point out this stuff.)

[pwengy50]

Some believe it looks like a round planet/ball containing billions of universes. Around the ball are more planet/ball like universes. the universe is never ending.

[hbjon]

nope, It does not fit into the hypothesis. All the galaxies in the known universe may combine to form a structure that is a component of an atom like unit. We need to try to see outside the distant galaxies in our known universe first.

[coolgalaxy]

Ok, now we know what the universe looks like, but what does it look like from the outside?

[ah4fecksake]

yep,very nice video,but that song just dosent fit at all,