Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC)

Imagine a universe devoid of all elements apart from hydrogen, helium, and lithium. That was the state of the Universe until the formation of the first stars, around a hundred million years after the Big Bang. These stars began to forge the elements we see today through nuclear fusion and dispersed them via supernovae explosions in a process known as enrichment. Relic second-generation stars preserve the elements produced by the first stars. They allow us to study initial enrichment in detail.

The third in our 2026 lecture series drew over 90 attendees at the Peninsula Astronomical Society

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is poised to launch its 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time. After years of work by over 2,000 scientists and engineers worldwide, this survey will reshape our view of the dynamic Universe. What’s unfolding now, and what Universe will LSST reveal?