Astronomers detect for first time light coming from the very first stars of our universe
7 years ago

Astronomers detect for first time light coming from the very first stars of our universe

Firstpost  

A team of astronomers including an Indian graduate student Nivedita Mahesh from Arizona State University have discovered for the first time signals from “cosmic dawn” — the moment when the universe’s earliest stars emerged, making a significant breakthrough in our understanding of the evolution of cosmos. When the universe was formed in the Big Bang event 13.8 billion years ago there was no sun, no stars, no light, it was a dark place. The findings by a team led by Judd Bowman, an astronomer at Arizona State University in Tempe, published in journal Nature on 28 February, tell us that the first stars were born around 13.62 billion years ago in what astronomers call as ‘cosmic dawn’ when the whole universe was awash with ultraviolet rays, and first stellar death— explosions in supernovae, formation of stellar black holes, took place around 13.55 billion years ago. “This intense ultraviolet light from the first stars could then interact with the hydrogen gas in the Universe, lowering its temperature below that of the ambient CMB radiation.

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Webb telescope finds most distant galaxy that formed after the Big Bang
6 days, 2 hours ago

Webb telescope finds most distant galaxy that formed after the Big Bang

India Today  

Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope have identified an ancient and faraway galaxy that provides evidence that an important transition period that brought the early universe out of its "dark ages" occurred sooner than previously thought. Webb, which by peering across vast cosmic distances is looking way back in time, observed the galaxy called JADES-GS-z13-1 as it existed about …

Astronomers devise a way to see through the 'fog' of the early universe
2 years, 8 months ago

Astronomers devise a way to see through the 'fog' of the early universe

Daily Mail  

Astronomers have devised a new way to 'see' through the fog of the early universe so they can detect light from the very first stars and galaxies. But while Webb looks at wavelengths in infrared, the Earth-based next-generation SKA telescope – due to be completed by the end of the decade – will study the early universe through radio waves. …

Scientists Find Light From the First Ever Stars Formed Billions of Years Ago in the Universe
3 years, 9 months ago

Scientists Find Light From the First Ever Stars Formed Billions of Years Ago in the Universe

News 18  

Before the beginning of space and time, there was nothing. Interestingly, we can still see the initial starlight from the cosmic dawn that has been travelling to us for billions of years, if we look far enough. So, when we look at faraway objects in space using our powerful telescopes, we are actually looking at the light that was released …

Ancient star discovery sheds light on Big Bang mystery
5 years, 8 months ago

Ancient star discovery sheds light on Big Bang mystery

CNN  

CNN — On the other side of the Milky Way galaxy, astronomers have discovered an ancient star that contains evidence of the very first stars formed after the Big Bang. “This incredibly anaemic star, which likely formed just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, has iron levels 1.5 million times lower than that of the Sun.” The …

The first molecules in the universe
5 years, 11 months ago

The first molecules in the universe

CNN  

CNN — When the universe formed during the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, the chemical reactions of the aftermath formed the first molecules. And although HeH+, the helium hydride ion, has been proposed for years as that first molecule, scientists couldn’t find any evidence of its existence in space – until now. “The discovery of HeH+ is a dramatic …

Astronomers detect universe's first star, claim it to be more important than Big Bang!
7 years, 1 month ago

Astronomers detect universe's first star, claim it to be more important than Big Bang!

India Today  

How would the first ever stars in our universe have looked like? Even though it was only a faint signal, detecting the first ever light that came to the universe is even more important than the Big Bang because "we are made of star stuff, and so we are glimpsing at our origin," astronomer Richard Ellis told AP. Hubble finds …

Scientists detect ‘fingerprint’ of first light ever in the universe
7 years, 1 month ago

Scientists detect ‘fingerprint’ of first light ever in the universe

CNN  

CNN — Scientists have detected traces of the earliest light in the universe thought to emanate from the first stars formed after the Big Bang, billions of years ago. The new report, published in Nature on February 28, said researchers found the “fingerprint” of the universe’s first light as background radiation left on hydrogen. “This is the first time we’ve …

Cosmic Discoveries Fuel a Fight Over the Universe’s Beginnings
7 years, 9 months ago

Cosmic Discoveries Fuel a Fight Over the Universe’s Beginnings

Wired  

Not long after the Big Bang, all went dark. The hydrogen gas that pervaded the early universe would have snuffed out the light of the universe’s first stars and galaxies. Quanta Magazine Original story reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent division of the Simons Foundation whose mission is to enhance public understanding of science by covering research …

First Stars Fired Up 140 Million Years Later Than Previously Thought
10 years, 1 month ago

First Stars Fired Up 140 Million Years Later Than Previously Thought

NPR  

First Stars Fired Up 140 Million Years Later Than Previously Thought Enlarge this image toggle caption ESA and the Planck Collaboration ESA and the Planck Collaboration It turns out that the "let there be light" moment in the early universe occurred much later than scientists previously thought, according to a newly published analysis of data collected from the European Space …

Evidence of one of the universe's oldest stars discovered
10 years, 7 months ago

Evidence of one of the universe's oldest stars discovered

Daily Mail  

Astronomers have found the first ever evidence for the huge stars that are thought to have populated the early universe. This technique involved analysing the chemical composition of a second-generation star to find evidence of one of the universe’s first-generation of stars that led to its formation. Scientists believe the universe began in the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, …

Astronomers spot raw star gas
11 years, 9 months ago

Astronomers spot raw star gas

The Hindu  

Astronomers have detected the raw material for making the first stars in galaxies that formed when the universe was just three billion years old — less than a quarter of its current age. The finding by The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s Australia Telescope Compact Array telescope near Narrabri, New South Wales, opens the way to studying how these …

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