The Star-formation History of the Universe

By Alan Heavens

Different formation histories of large and small galaxies affected the rate at which stars were produced

Astronomy Mathematics Physics Cosmology

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January-February 2005

Volume 93, Number 1
Page 36

DOI: 10.1511/2005.51.36

More than nine thousand billion billion (9×1021) stars have been formed in the observable universe since it began 13.7 billion years ago. Despite the apparent wealth of stars in the sky, current cosmological models suggest that the universe was quite dark for much of its first billion years.

Image courtesy of NASA, The Hubble Heritage Team and Adam Reiss of the Space Telescope Science Institute

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