reionisationsåldern

The Reionization Era, also known as the Epoch of Reionization, was a crucial period in the early universe. It occurred roughly between 150 million and 1 billion years after the Big Bang. Before this epoch, the universe was filled with neutral hydrogen gas. This neutral gas was largely opaque to ultraviolet radiation. The Reionization Era marks the transition from this neutral, opaque state to an ionized, transparent state.

The process of reionization was driven by the first sources of energetic radiation, primarily the ultraviolet light emitted by the first stars and galaxies. As these early stars formed and evolved, they produced copious amounts of ultraviolet photons. These photons had enough energy to strip electrons from the neutral hydrogen atoms, a process called ionization. These ionized regions then expanded, eventually overlapping and pervading the entire intergalactic medium.

The exact timeline and the dominant sources responsible for reionization are still active areas of research. However, it is understood that this transition profoundly impacted the subsequent evolution of cosmic structures. The ionized gas no longer clumped together as readily as neutral gas, influencing the formation of later generations of stars and galaxies. Understanding the Reionization Era is vital for comprehending the cosmic web and the development of the universe as we observe it today. Telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope are crucial in providing observational data to unravel the mysteries of this epoch.