Scientists have suggested that the invisible companion around which the sun-like star orbits, which is observed by the Gaia Space Telescope, is not a black hole, as it is believed until now, but a much more exotic object. It can be a star that is entirely made up of dark matter.
Amazing invisible companion
Scientists who process data from the Gaia Space Telescope have drawn attention to one of the many binary systems that this astrometric instrument observes. It is known for certain that one of its components is a star similar to the sun. It has 93 percent of its mass.
But the telescope does not see the second component of the system. It is only known that its mass is at least 11 times more than our Sun and the first star orbits it at a distance of 1.4 AU, that is, its orbit is close to the Martian one.
At the same time, it does this quite quickly — in just 188 days. From this, scientists have previously concluded that the object around which it orbits is a black hole. However, at the end of April, a study has appeared that has not yet been reviewed and which claims that this is a much more exotic object.
Dark matter and stars from it
The theory that the second object in this system is a black hole is really not all right. In order for such a situation to develop, the system had to be born as a binary, survive a supernova explosion, and at the same time the second star somehow had to survive and remain in its orbit. And 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 debated for a long time. No one can understand what it consists of, but everyone agrees that it does not enter into any interaction with the rest of the Universe except gravitational.
One possible explanation is that it is made up of some exotic kind of bosons. If this is the case, then it can form compact thickenings. Recently, scientists have suggested that even in our galaxy there may be so-called Q-balls from it and even described how they can be found using gravitational lensing.
A new study suggests that dark matter can shrink even more and form stars. They do not produce light, because there are no thermonuclear reactions inside, but they can be very massive and compact. And it is this object in the binary system that has attracted the attention of scientists.
If it really is a dark matter star, then further observations will certainly show it. Despite their name, black holes that interact with stars generate a huge number of effects that do not occur in the case of a more exotic object.
According to www.space.com
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