Signal Found That Will Allow Us to See the First Stars

There is a signal from the early Universe that can help us see the first stars that lit up in the cosmos, thus allowing us to understand how it passed from darkness to light : it is a radio signal originating from hydrogen atoms that fill the spaces between star-forming regions , and it has been identified by an international research led by the British University of Cambridge.

The study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, shows that future radio telescopes such as SKA , under construction in Australia and South Africa, and REACH , currently being calibrated in South Africa, will be able to intercept the signal , thus shedding light on some of the characteristics of the first stars even without observing them directly. "This is a unique opportunity to find out how the first light of the Universe emerged from the darkness," says Anastasia Fialkov, who coordinated the researchers:

"The transition from a cold, dark Universe to one full of stars is a story we are only now beginning to understand." The signal that will provide information on the cosmic dawn is called the '21-centimeter signal' , because it occurs at a wavelength of 21 centimeters in the radio spectrum . It was born just 100 million years after the Big Bang and is influenced by radiation from primordial stars and black holes . The authors of the study developed predictions for this signal based on how it could be detected by the SKA and REACH radio telescopes, and found that it is particularly sensitive to the mass of the first stars . "Our predictions - says Eloy de Lera Acedo, one of the authors of the study - have enormous implications for our understanding of the nature of the very first stars in the Universe".