What did the first collections of stars look like? | astrobites
https://astrobites.org/2016/08/18/what-did-the-first-collections-of-stars-look-like/
The first stars, confusingly named Population III, form out of gas containing no metals (Astronomy parlance for elements heavier than Hydrogen and Helium).
This makes them different from stars that form subsequently (known as Population I and II. I know, it’s backwards. Blame Walter Baade), as these later stars
form from gas containing the metals expelled by the trailblazing Pop III stars. Because Pop III stars form from metal free gas they have unique properties
compared to stars in the universe today. One of the most striking features is their extreme mass, a hundred times the mass of our Sun in some theories. Such
large stars subsequently have very short lifetimes, as they burn through their nuclear fuel rapidly. This in turn makes them difficult to detect; in the grand
timeline of the universe, they blink in and out of existence. Until we get better observations one of the only ways to explore these objects, and test theories
of their formation and evolution, is through simulations.
