Gravity then played its hand. Remember, the universe at this stage was made up of hydrogen & helium atoms, sub atomic particles & photons and was still expanding & cooling. In a universe that was still considered small, gravity was a powerful force. It broke the mass of hydrogen & helium into great gaseous clouds. And gravity within these great gaseous clouds formed many billions of smaller clouds of hydrogen & helium.
These great gaseous clouds formed galaxies & the smaller ones formed stars. We live in one of these galaxies, called the Milky Way Galaxy.
And how many stars are there in the Milky Way Galaxy? 100 billion stars!
How many galaxies are there in the known universe? 100 billion galaxies!
How many stars have there been in the known universe? 10 thousand billion billion stars!
Did they all come from that original hydrogen & helium gas? Yes they did.
Most of the first stars that formed no longer exist. Since there were only two elements in the universe then, hydrogen & helium, the first stars were gigantic & made up totally of these two gases. These early stars were called first generation stars. They were so massive that they collapsed in on themselves, then blew apart in great explosions called supernovas.
Upon collapsing, the pressure was so immense that the hydrogen & helium atoms were pushed together with such great force that they merged into one another, forming larger atoms. This process is called nuclear fusion, a process that allows stars to burn for billions of years. Also the process through which virtually all other elements formed; carbon, oxygen, sulfur, lead, gold, iron, uranium....
So imagine the gold on your finger was once a piece of star. But how did it get here from way up there?
Stay tuned.
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