By Flora Lepage, Year 11
Physics: a subject that holds some of the most important answers to enigmas of our universe. A subject that has been constantly added to since the beginning of Roman times and that never ceases to amaze scientists. Physics ranges from answering questions about the way that force works to the way that our universe began and how it continues to work. For the past twenty years, there have been several major breakthroughs in physics that have allowed us to better understand the complicated thing that is our universe. Yet, recent discoveries that have been made from the famous James Webb Telescope have upturned our current knowledge and left scientists to question everything.
The James Webb telescope was launched on the 25th of December, 2021, with the aim of finding answers to some of the greatest cosmological mysteries. Although the telescope’s original goal and purpose was to see some of the first stars and galaxies in the universe, but it has also succeeded in finding multiple objects and unknowns in our solar system that scientists had previously not been able to see.
In the branch of Physics known as Cosmology, there have been many different theories to explain the way the universe works, but with no concrete evidence as we have not yet been able to look far enough. One of these theories that scientists have developed is the possible existence of “dark stars”, which are an entirely different and new type of star that scientists have yet to investigate. They are believed to be stars larger than any other star that we have discovered, much larger than our sun, and are potentially the oldest stars in the history of the universe, as well as a representation of the first phase of stellar evolution. This was all a myth up until December 2022, when the James Webb telescope captured three stars that were at first believed to be galaxies, but were later concluded to be dark stars. The evidence that these mysterious stars do exist in reality eradicated multiple different theories that existed concerning the explanation of “dark matter”, and allowed scientists and astronomers to finally dive deeper into this unknown field. It is said that the dark stars are essentially powered by dark matter and therefore are the link that scientists needed in order to be able to study dark matter and finally understand what it is. This is a major breakthrough in Cosmology as it finally puts to rest the doubt as to the existence of dark matter, and has opened a door for scientists to finally be able to find the answers to this mystery.
Our universe is so full of mysteries and unknowns that humankind has only ever been able to look into it to a limited extent; that is until this telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope is an immense step in Physics that has already allowed us to understand the world in ways that were not possible before and will continue to do so in its journey through our universe.
