00:03Our Sun is the biggest thing in the solar system by a long shot, but when compared to other stars,
00:08it's actually quite small.
00:10However, when the universe was first beginning, and the first stars twinkled into existence,
00:14new research finds those were likely in another league altogether.
00:17Using new computer models which simulate the act of cold accretion,
00:20a phenomenon where stars might come together quickly while remaining at a relatively low and constant temperature,
00:25so as to be able to collapse upon themselves and ignite into stars.
00:29It's one of those cosmic events that was difficult to explain.
00:31But in the early days of the universe, subsections of space featuring large areas of cold yet dense matter
00:36could form an accretion disk at the center of those giant globs of material.
00:39And according to the new computer simulation, when that happens, a shockwave emerges
00:43and forces an instant collapse of that matter.
00:46But what's really interesting? This process, which protostars likely went through,
00:50can produce giant burning balls of gas 100,000 times the mass of our own Sun.
00:54Meaning in the early days of the starlit universe, supermassive stars may have been the norm.
00:59Now we just have to look back in time with the James Webb Space Telescope
01:01to hopefully find evidence to confirm it.
