One of the most iconic plots in astrophysics #shorts

By Dr. Becky

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The carbon and oxygen and nitrogen in your body was forged in stars at cosmic noon. If that peak had been smaller, or happened at a different time, the chemical make up of the Universe would be completely different. And life as we know it might not have been possible. In 2014, Madau and Dickinson, two of the original authors on the original 1996 paper, published a review collating nearly two decades of star formation history data and gave us this version of the Madau plot. On the right side of this plot, which shows what was going on in the first few billion years of the Universe’s life, star formation appears to be relatively modest. But then, the amount of star formation rises. Steeply. Peaking ten billion years ago when the Universe was about three and a half billion years old. At that peak, the Universe was forming stars at a rate somewhere between ten and thirty times higher than it is today! This is what’s known as cosmic noon. It’s when our galaxy the Milky Way formed the majo

Tags: Dr Beckie, smethers, Astronomie, Astrophysiks