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Figure 1: Sketch of the evolution of the Universe over the last 13.77 billion years. It started with the Big Bang, followed by an extremely short period of rapid exponential expansion. The furthest we can see is the cosmic microwave background, when radiation decoupled from matter, approximately 380,000 years after the Big Bang. This is followed by the ‘dark ages,’ during which this radiation redshifted from the visible regime into infrared and sub-mm wavelengths. The occurrence of the first stars, about 400 million years after the Big Bang, ended this phase, spearheading the formation of galaxies as we see them today. [Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team, public domain]

How did the first stars form in space?

Ralf Klessen, professor of theoretical astrophysics at Heidelberg University, investigates the physical processes that governed the formation of the first generation of stars in the early Universe.

Star Formation and Dynamics of the Interstellar Medium — Center for Astronomy at Heidelberg...

Understanding the formation of stars together with their subsequent evolution and identifying the physical processes that govern the dynamics of the interstellar medium (ISM) are central research themes in astronomy and astrophysics.

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