Cosmic Noon
Star formation peaks: the universe will never again build stars this fast.
- When
- Known to
- ± 300 million years
- Era
- Galaxy Assembly, Stelliferous
About 3.3 billion years after the Big Bang, at redshift 2, the cosmic star-formation rate reaches its maximum — roughly ten times today's. Galaxies are gas-rich, mergers are common and dust obscures much of the light. Around half of all the stars that have ever existed formed within a couple of billion years either side of this peak, and the rate has been declining ever since.