Earliest Stars and Dark Matter

Earliest Stars

A group of astronomers claimed to have discovered radio signals that potentially give evidence of the first stars to come into existence.
However, this is just a possibility-the radio signal is very small. It took a lot of effort on the researchers' parts to be able to discern the signal.
As is commonly known, the universe was created by the Big Bang. At first, the universe was a bright, hot jumble, but 380,000 years later, the universe cooled and became dark, starting the "Dark Ages".
180 million years later, the first stars were born.

Main Points

• Radio signals give possible
  evidence of first stars
• Possible discovery of dark matter
• Universe created by Big Bang
• First stars born 180 million
  years later
• Dark matter possible solution
  to discrepancies
• James Webb Space Telescope
  designed to look at early stars

Dark Matter

Besides proof of the first stars, the researches may have found evidence of dark matter-the elusive, mysterious substance. Like the evidence of the earliest stars, it takes a lot of such evidence to confirm dark matter, and they could be wrong.
Dark matter is a possible solution to why the observed signal is larger than expected, as early hydrogen gas could've interacted strongly with it. However, until this evidence is further verified, one should be skeptical. But as Professor Loeb of Harvard said, quoted by the Associated Press: "if confirmed, this discovery deserves two Nobel prizes", for both discoveries.

Article Source

Original CNN Article