Scientists have suggested that the invisible companion around the sun-like star observed by the Gaia space telescope is not a black hole, as has been thought until now, but a much more exotic object. It could be a star made entirely of dark matter.

Incredible invisible friend

Scientists processing data from the Gaia space telescope drew attention to one of the many binary systems observed by this astrometric instrument. It is known for certain that one of its components is a star similar to the Sun. It has 93 percent of its mass.

However, the telescope does not see the second component of the system. It is only known that its mass is at least 11 times greater than that of the Sun, and that the first star revolves around it at a distance of 1.4 AU. o., that is, its orbit is close to that of Mars.

It also does this quickly enough – in just 188 days. From this, scientists concluded that the object around which he had previously revolved was a black hole. But at the end of April, a study emerged that has yet to be peer-reviewed and claims it’s a much more exotic object.

Dark matter and stars from it

The theory that the second object in this system is a black hole isn’t really true. For such a situation to develop, the system had to be born as a double star, survive a supernova explosion, while the second star somehow survived and remained in orbit. This requires the coincidence of many rare factors.

Therefore, scientists have proposed an exotic alternative solution. In fact, the second object is a rare dark matter star. This form of existence of matter in the universe has been discussed for a long time. No one can figure out what it’s made of, but everyone agrees that it doesn’t interact with the rest of the universe in any way other than gravity.

One possible explanation is that it is composed of some exotic boson species. If so, it can form compact clusters. Recently, scientists suggested that so-called Q balls might even exist in our own Galaxy, and even explained how they could be found using gravitational lensing.

A new study suggests that dark matter can be compressed even more and form stars. They do not produce light because thermonuclear reactions do not occur inside, but they can be very large and compact. And this is exactly the object in the binary system that caught the attention of scientists.

If it is indeed a star made of dark matter, subsequent observations will certainly show this. Despite their name, black holes interacting with stars produce numerous effects that do not occur in the case of a more exotic object.