Thu Sep 18, 9:01 AM ET

By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer, SPACE.com

A pair of new studies bolsters the long-held suspicion that the early universe was cramped and violent, with galaxies packed tight and stellar explosions greater than any that occur today.


The results indicate it was also a crucial era to the future of planets and life.


The first stars in the universe, thought to form while galaxies were still drawing together, were huge. Astronomers theorize that the universe initially contained only hydrogen and helium, with perhaps traces of lithium. With only these raw materials to work from, primordial stars would have been up to 200 times as massive as the Sun, according to theory.


cLiCk HeRe