Light from the First Stars
Explanation:
What were the first stars like? No one is yet sure.
Our Sun is not a
first-
generation
star.
It is not even second generation.
The
first stars to appear in the universe
likely came and went about 13 billion years ago.
However,
deep observations by the
Spitzer Space
Telescope
in
infrared light
have detected a diffuse glow, possibly from first generation stars
hundreds of times more massive than our Sun.
The
above image shows infrared background light with
bright patches that might have originated from clusters of these
first objects.
Gray areas depict places where nearby foreground stars from our
Milky Way Galaxy
were digitally removed.
APOD Editor to Discuss "Best of APOD
2006" Pictures in NYC on January 5
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
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NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
