MEXICO: According to new findings from the Planck satellite, the first stars in the universe could have formed later than most astrophysicists have previously thought.
The Planck satellite data team discovered the new information after putting together the most precise map of the “oldest light” in the observable universe, discovering that the first stars ignited some 560 million years after the Big Bang brought the universe into being. This is a major difference from the original idea that these stars formed closer to the 420 million mark – a significant difference when it comes to the jumping-off point for stellar formation.
One of the Plank Science Collaboration’s leaders, Professor George Efstathiou, said that the time difference might seem small when the history of the universe is nearly 14 billion years old. However, he said that it’s a proportionally large change in how scientists understand how and when several very important cosmic events unfolded in the early days of the cosmos.
The new assessment is based on ancient light that is raining down on the Earth even now. It’s called the Cosmic Microwave Background, and its considered to be the light released in the aftermath of the Big Ban. This CMB contains a treasure trove of how the early universe looked; scientists have used the ancient light to work out the shape of the ancient universe, its age, and also the types of elements it contained.
