00:00Scientists may have found a new way to study the universe's earliest black holes.
00:04A new study from Colgate University explores mysterious objects called dark stars.
00:09These hypothetical stars may have been powered partly by dark matter instead of nuclear fusion.
00:15Researchers say some dark stars could have grown to more than one million times the mass of the Sun.
00:20They may then have collapsed into massive black holes.
00:23Over billions of years, those black holes could have merged and produced gravitational waves.
00:29Today, these waves may be detectable using pulsar timing arrays.
00:33Scientists found dark star remnants could potentially contribute significantly to this gravitational wave background.
00:40The study suggests existing observations can already limit how common these ancient seeds were.
00:46Future measurements could help reveal whether dark stars played a role in creating the universe's first supermassive black holes.
00:53Disclosure. This video contains stock footage and content created or enhanced using AI-assisted tools.
00:59Chapter 1
00:59Chapter 1
