Scientists Have Detected the First Stars

What do the first stars in the universe, dark matter, and superior siege engines have in common?

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Hawking Radiation

Sometimes space news sneaks by without getting much attention. Not everything wows like gravitational waves or spacefaring sportscars. That’s the case with the recent discovery of earliest stars in the universe. In a Nature paper published a few weeks ago, Judd Bowman and collaborators report a signal from the very first stars to form in our universe. The same result also hints at brand new physics that may help explain the nature of dark matter. This result flew under the radar in part because it’s a subtle and clever result that requires a bit of interpretation. Today we’re doing a Space Time Journal Club to explain this discovery. We’ll follow that with the solution to our recent trebuchet challenge question.

Written and Hosted by Matt O'Dowd
Produced by Rusty Ward
Graphics by Grayson Blackmon
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[BitThoughts]

As an Australian, I can confirm we have radios. Ever since we got electricity installed last week.

[aryantyagi]

I am 15 yrs old but just started watching your videos. I don't get most of it but you guys really make me excited about the fact there is whole reality which I can't even imagine.great job guys, keep it up.

[NewMessage]

If the universe was eating that many 21cm photons, no wonder it expanded so much. But you can't blame it.. they go so well with absorption dip.

[Josh-iiix]

I love your enthusiasm for physics education, Matt. I'll never be a physicist, but I can see how much you love the field and love teaching others about it.

[FalconFastest]

Physicist1: This data doesn't add up!
Physicist2: What could it be??
Both: DARK MATTER!!!

[EugeneKhutoryansky]

The most interesting part is that the hydrogen was much colder than our presently known laws of physics would have predicted. This discovery could end up having the same revolutionary impact as the Michelson–Morley experiment.

[CyberiusT]

"...so you can get our next shirt, which will be even cooler". NOTHING is cooler than Heat Death.

[deniseaton]

For the trébuchet question I would make the argument that they did not take into account wind resistance and the projectile with the longer route would lose more energy, making a slight difference.

[askhowiknow]

We’ve speculated about the existence of stars for some time, and now we’ve finally detected some lol

[TheExoplanetsChannel]

*if they detected this with current radiotelescopes, I cannot imagine what will they discover with the square kilometre array (SKA)*

[thhseeking]

Every time I hear a trebuchet come up in conversation, the phrase "Fecher la vache!" springs to mind...

[TheNoodlyAppendage]

The shallow trajectory hits harder, because it loses less to air resistance. It also does more damage because the walls are not as strong from the side as from the top.

[denijane]

Ah, can you do more space-time journal clubs? With so many articles published each day in the arxiv, it is so easy to miss something really cool like this. So such special editions are really useful! Thanks for this one.

[jameslucas]

I must confess, as much as I wish to comprehend what nearly every video Space Time has to offer, I just fall short of the mark before he finishes the first sentence. I am thrilled that there are enough bright people to enjoy his discussions; I am certainly not a member of this club.

[kevinocta]

Nice- I love how answering questions almost always makes you ask more... I'm still looking forward to the first real picture of a black hole!

[RADlX]

this is my favourite youtube channel! thank you for all the content

[steevepierre-louis]

This discovery is like the best of both worlds! I LOVE it when our theories make correct predictions! That means we're probably on the right track to explaining the universe properly :D Then, in addition to being where it was expected to be, the spectrum's magnitude was different, giving us something new to try to explain! I can barely hold my excitement! Man.... Why did I go into medicine??? ahhhh

[lukefuller]

8:54 "Our upcoming T-shirt, which will be even cooler, if that's possible."
Maybe if you expose it to dark matter?

[vtron]

Didn't think we'd get this far so fast, I'm proud of science

[wesleyrm]

My whole AP Physics class sent in a video answering the trebuchet questions. We got it right! But I guess they weren’t going to give T-Shirts to all of us... :/