First Stars
Within the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang
Cosmic TimeFirst Stars
The end of the cosmic dark ages.
Gravity gathered primordial gas into the first stars and ended the cosmic dark ages. Their light lit the young universe, and their furnaces began making heavier elements.
No first star has been observed. NASA places the Cosmic Dawn between about 50 million and one billion years after the Big Bang.
Within the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang, placed on the scale of its era on a line leading toward now.
- Era
- Cosmic Time
- Period
- Within the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang
- Edition
- 1/1
- Status
- Not Released
Background artwork
Artist’s concept of the first stars turning on, NASA/WMAP Science Team. Public domain. An illustration, not a photograph. No picture of a first star exists.