October 16, 2006 | 0 comments

The Dark Ages of the Universe: Overview/Epoch of Reionization

Much of the attention in cosmology over the past several years has focused on the cosmic microwave background radiation, which provides a snapshot of the universe at an age of 400,000 years. But between this moment and the appearance of the first galaxies was a period of almost total darkness, broken by not so much as a glimmer of starlight. Hidden in the shadows of this era are the secrets of how galaxies took shape.

Clearly, it is hard to probe a period that is by its very nature practically invisible. The key is to look for the feeble radio waves emitted by electrically neutral hydrogen gas as it interacts with the background radiation. Observers are now starting to do so.

The result should be an even more interesting map than that of the microwave background. It will be fully three-dimensional and will show, step by step, how form emerged from formlessness.

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