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First Stars May Have Formed Just 250 Million Years After the Big Bang
Early Star Formation Presents New Cosmic Mystery:
New observations suggest that stars began forming just 250 million years after the Big Bang — a record-breaker that will likely open a new line of cosmological inquiry.
Astronomers peering back into time suggest that the cosmic dark ages — before the universe hosted its sea of twinkling lights — might have lasted no more than 250 million years. The team presented their results in the journal Nature [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0117-z] [DX] today.
Takuya Hashimoto (Osaka Sangyo University, Japan) and his colleagues used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to peer at a galaxy whose light was emitted 550 million years after the big bang, picking up a long-sought signal: oxygen. It's the most distant galaxy for which astronomers have been able to detect individual elements — and that single element has a big story to tell.
Because only hydrogen, helium, and a little lithium emerged from the Big Bang, the young universe was pristine. It wasn't until the first generation of stars exploded, breathing carbon, oxygen and other heavy elements into the cosmos, that the universe's inventory of elements increased. So, the detection of oxygen 550 million years after the Big Bang suggests that a generation of stars had already formed and died by this point.
Also at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
Scientists see surprise oxygen signal deep in the universe, suggesting stars formed far earlier than originally thought
Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
Scientists have spotted an oxygen signal deep in the universe, suggesting it formed far differently from how we thought. The new discovery is the most distant oxygen ever seen by a telescope. And it could change our understanding of how stars and the universe as we know it came about. The galaxy is so far away that we are seeing it as it was when the universe was only 500 million years away[sic. And even at that age, it is filled with mature stars – suggesting the process of their formation began only 250 million years after the universe itself began.
(Score: 2) by KilroySmith on Friday May 18 2018, @01:32AM (2 children)
Because of the way that we currently understand physics:
https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_bigbang_timeline.html [physicsoftheuniverse.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by jimtheowl on Friday May 18 2018, @03:02AM (1 child)
"The temperature of the universe falls to the point (about a billion degrees) where atomic nuclei can begin to form as protons and neutrons combine through nuclear fusion to form the nuclei of the simple elements of hydrogen, helium and lithium. After about 20 minutes, the temperature and density of the universe has fallen to the point where nuclear fusion cannot continue."
It states that simple elements (hydrogen, helium and lithium) are formed, but not why that excludes some of the heavier ones to be created in lower concentrations.
Given of all that has happened before these 3 minutes, I find details to be scarce for such a long gap.
Perhaps slightly more heavier elements are created than otherwise assumed in the trailing end of.. lets assume.. 18 to 20 minutes.
And if not, the questions still stands.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 18 2018, @03:21AM
I'm not an expert, but the probability of collisions drops exponentially with the number of particles involved. So occasionally, two Druterons met to form a Helium nucleus. But Helium is very rare, and two of those nuclei almost never meet.