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SUMMARY:Cosmic Dawn:  The Search for the First Galaxies - Dan Stark (Insti
 tute of Astronomy)
DTSTART:20110616T121000Z
DTEND:20110616T130000Z
UID:TALK30630@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Edward Cackett
DESCRIPTION:Astronomers have long sought to trace the history of the unive
 rse from its origins to the present day.    Our earliest picture comes jus
 t 400\,000 years after the Big Bang.  It was at this point that stable ato
 ms formed for the first time.   With no stars yet shining\, the cosmos was
  permeated by a gas of hydrogen and shrouded in darkness.   Our next snaps
 hot comes nearly one billion years later\, revealing a vastly different la
 ndscape.   By this epoch\, galaxies were commonplace\, some of them alread
 y quite massive and containing supermassive black holes at their center.  
 The period between these two very different epochs corresponds to one of t
 he final missing chapters in our knowledge of cosmic history.   Buried in 
 this unexplored era are the keys to understanding the formation of the fir
 st stars\, galaxies\, black holes.   The world's largest telescopes have r
 ecently begun to push back the cosmic frontier well into the first billion
  years\, providing a glimpse of some of the earliest galaxies.  In this ta
 lk\, I will review recent progress from these observational campaigns and 
 prospects for future discoveries with next-generation facilities.\n
LOCATION:Entertaining Room\, Darwin College
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