population III

population III

A hypothetical population of supermassive stars that could have existed before the galaxies formed. They could have produced the large helium content of the Universe and the microwave background radiation, both usually attributed to the early stages of the Big Bang. If population III stars did exist, cosmologists would need to severely modify current forms of the Big Bang theory.

population III

[‚päp·yə′lā·shən ′thrē] (astronomy) A class of stars that condensed from the gas formed in the nucleosynthesis of the big bang, and consist entirely of hydrogen and helium.