The Big Questions in the Universe
Observing the Dark Ages. Long before there were stars, there was the stuff that stars are made of. This era of the universe is called the dark ages, when the universe was transparent before the galaxies formed. Peering back in time with the largest telescopes reveals younger and younger galaxies and the time when there were no galaxies and no stars. For the first 380,000 years of cosmic history, the universe was dense and opaque.
All was dark - a dense fog, dominated by an impenetrable mixture of radiation and matter. Looking forward from the Big Bang, the fog lifted as the universe cooled, resulting in a race to detect the state of the universe in the dark ages.
Gresham Professor of Astronomy, Joseph Silk FRS, is one of the world's leading experts in theoretical cosmology, dark matter, galaxy formation and cosmic microwave background.
(from gresham.ac.uk)
| 12. Observing the Dark Ages |
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