Cosmic Dawn & the First Stars

The era when the first stars and galaxies formed and began to light up the Universe.

The first stars (Population III) formed from pristine hydrogen and helium, were likely very massive, and forged the first heavy elements. The James Webb Space Telescope is now observing galaxies from a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, revealing this era directly for the first time.

• When and how did the very first stars form?
• Why do some early galaxies look more evolved than expected?

• Depends onThe Cosmic Dark Ages
• Depends onStructure Formation
• Part of modelThe Lambda-CDM Model
• Measured byJames Webb Space Telescope
• Required byReionization
• Preceded byThe Cosmic Dark Ages
• Followed byReionization