Pandora's Cluster of galaxies

Cosmology

Webb Telescope Finds Dwarf Galaxies Lit Up the Early Universe

Faint, small galaxies ionized the opaque fog that obscured the early universe.

stylized atoms sprayed over a field of black

Stellar Science

Astronomers Find the Remains of the Universe’s First Stars

The first stars are too faint and far away to detect directly, but their gaseous remains can be seen absorbing the light of distant galaxies.

Artist's concept of a first-generation star tearing itself apart

Cosmology

The First Stars Weren’t Born Alone

New evidence suggests the first stars to shine in the universe formed in groups.

Artist's concept of a first-generation star tearing itself apart

Cosmology

Tentative Evidence of the First Generation of Stars

Scientists have detected something unusual around a distant quasar — perhaps the first real evidence of a first-generation star.

Lensing close-up

Cosmology

Meet Earendel, the Most Distant Star Astronomers Have Observed

The Hubble Space Telescope has revealed a single star whose light has traveled for 12.9 billion years to Earth — the most distant star known.

Image showing location of 2MASS J18082002–5104378

Stellar Science

Puny Star Might Be Specimen from Early Universe

A low-mass sun with few elements heavier than helium provides hope that the Galaxy might contain survivors from the very first generation of stars. 

Galaxies

Seeing Signs of the First Stars?

Astronomers have come upon the tantalizing signal from some of the universe’s first stars.

Cosmology

Blast from the Very Far Past

A gamma-ray burst seen to occur last April happened in the era of the earliest stars, when the universe was only 630 million years old and the "reionization era" was getting under way. But this news isn't exactly news.