A surprising new study reveals that the first stars appeared in a pre-heated universe, challenging earlier ideas about early cosmic conditions.

Besides being a point of light, a star is a luminous, spherical mass of plasma, enough to hold itself together under its own gravity. On its own, though, gravitational rounding isn't enough. What ...

Stars form in the universe from massive clouds of gas. European Southern Observatory, CC BY-SA For decades, astronomers have wondered what the very first stars in the universe were like. These stars ...

Not all stars are created equally. Astronomers believe that the first stars to form after the Big Bang were mostly made of ...

At just 25, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin applied quantum physics to a treasure trove of astronomical observations to show that stars are mostly hydrogen and helium.

Star formation is a fundamental physical process in our universe. Stars light up the cosmos, and give rise to planets, some ...