The Formation of the Universe and Big Stars

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The formation of the Milky Way galaxy started with the formation of the universe after the Big Bang, leaving behind a universe made of hydrogen, helium, and a sprinkle of lithium.
It was difficult to make stars or any structure from that kind of universe because it was fairly hot gas.
The very first stars that formed prior to any galaxies were very massive stars made from just hydrogen and helium, and they exploded pretty fast after a few million years on cosmic time scales.

Anna Frebel is an astronomer and astrophysicist at MIT. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(05:26) – First elements
(12:35) – Milky Way
(16:11) – Alien worlds
(19:16) – Protogalaxies
(24:29) – Black holes
(29:27) – Stellar archeology
(38:42) – Oldest stars
(46:32) – Metal-poor stars
(1:02:05) – Neutron capture
(1:07:01) – Neutron stars
(1:12:30) – Dwarf galaxies
(1:17:10) – Star observation
(1:45:27) – James Webb Space Telescope
(1:51:17) – Future of space observation
(1:54:26) – Age of the universe
(2:07:34) – Most beautiful idea in astronomy
(2:11:23) – Advice for young people
(2:20:17) – Meaning of life