NEW YORK: The first stars twinkled into life some 100m years later than was previously thought, research suggests.
Data from the European Space Agency’s Planck telescope indicates that star formation began about 550m years after the big bang that gave birth to the universe.
Before that time, described as the “reionisation” epoch, the cosmos occupied a dark age devoid of visible light.
The big bang 13.8bn years ago was when matter, space and even time exploded into existence. Previously scientists had thought that the first stars began to shine 440m years after the big bang. The new results, still to be confirmed by further measurements, suggest that they are 100m years younger.
Planck, launched in 2009, was designed to study the “cosmic microwave background” – the faint radiation echo left by the big bang – with unprecedented accuracy. It was decommissioned in 2013 after exhausting its supply of liquid helium coolant.
Senior scientist Dr Carlo Baccigalupi, from the International School of Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, said: “According to Planck’s observations, stars may be younger than believed, in bearing with other independent astrophysical indicators, and this finding may have major consequences on our attempts to understand the dark components of the universe.”
The “dark components” consist of invisible dark matter and dark energy, both of which are still unsolved mysteries whose natures are unknown.
The scientists, who report their findings in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, said more Planck data was still to be analysed, which should provide a clearer picture of the evidence.
Reionisation refers to the way energetic ultraviolet light from the first stars splits hydrogen atoms into their component protons and electrons.
