The First Stars

The first stars must have burned indescribably bright, illuminating the endless night with their fire. The nuclear fusion reactions in the star's centers converted hydrogen into helium until their hydrogen was all gone. Then they grew hotter and hotter, and the atoms inside them fused into more and more elements. Finally bringing into existence are the kinds of matter besides hydrogen and helium for the first time. Elements like carbon could form, the basis of all life as we know it - oxygen, nitrogen, and finally, iron.

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