Astronomers on the trail of long-gone first stars.

From: The Dallas Morning News (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune NewsService) | Date: January 25, 2002 | Copyright information

Byline: Alexandra Witze

In the beginning, 14 billion years ago, there was darkness upon the face of the universe. Then the first star winked into existence.

That light literally ended the dark ages, 100 million years or more after the big bang that created the universe. Until now, scientists have been in the dark about how it happened.

Like biologists unable to study the long-vanished first life forms on Earth, astronomers can't directly probe the long-extinguished first stars. Instead, scientists turn to computers to simulate the moment of first light.

The new ...

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