Monday, 28 March 2022
A Nottingham astronomer is releasing her first book based on research that tells the story of the first stars and sheds light on the birth of the Universe.
Dr Emma Chapman from the University of Nottingham has written ‘First Light – Switching on the Stars at the Dawn of Time’ to explain how the chaos of the Big Bang first began to yield to the order of galaxies, black holes and stars, kick-starting the pathway to planets, comets, moons and life itself.
Emma says: “There is the Cosmic Dark Ages after the Big Bang, and we are missing observations and knowledge from the first billion years, about the same amount of time of entire childhood up to first day at school, when comparing the Universe’s lifetime to a human lifetime. With this book I am hoping to shed some light on this period and tell the story of the first stars that were hundreds of times the size of the sun and a million times brighter. These stars lived fast and died young in powerful explosions that seeded the Universe with the heavy elements that we are made of.”
First Light by Emma Chapman
Based on extensive research the book aims to explain the sizeable gap in our cosmological knowledge between 380,000 years and 1 billion years after the Big Bang. This is the era of first stars, the last great unobserved epoch. As the first stars were born, they heated and ionized the surrounding hydrogen, imprinting a signal on the 21-cm emission, beginning the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). The study of the EoR allows a unique high-redshift playground in which to constrain astrophysics and cosmology in the early universe, and test theories constructed around data from lower redshifts and smaller volumes. So far, though, the EoR signal has remained elusive, buried under signals from other astrophysical sources.
The next step in this research will use super powerful telescopes to enhance detection and Emma is involved in both the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) in the Netherlands and the forthcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in Australia, a telescope that will eventually consist of a million antennas pointing skywards in the desert.
I have spent over a decade researching this area of astronomy and am really excited to be able to share some of it in this book that I hope will be enlightening and engaging. As well as featuring research already completed the book looks ahead to the next steps in this astrological journey that is already underway using new technology and viewing power. With these new immense telescopes we will be able to see more than ever before and answer even more questions about the birth of the Universe.
Story credits
More information is available from Dr Emma Chapman on emma.chapman@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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