The first stars, as seen by supercomputers

Abstract

Some 400000 years after the Big Bang, the universe was cool enough that electrons and protons could come together to form neutral hydrogen. Through study of the cosmic microwave background radiation, cosmologists have gained an excellent understanding of the state of the universe at that "recombination" time. By the time the universe was 1 billion years old, it contained small galaxies, gamma-ray bursters, and even bright quasars likely powered by supermassive black holes as heavy as a billion suns. From observations of such objects, astronomers have gleaned more information about the early cosmos. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.