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First Stars: Temperature, Brightness, and Color

Massive Population III stars could have been as hot as 100,000 kelvins—more than 90,000 degrees hotter than the Sun. The hotter any object is, the more electromagnetic radiation (light) it gives off, and the higher energy the radiation is. Population III stars would have been much brighter than the Sun, giving off mostly high-energy ultraviolet rather than visible light.
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Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
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Media
Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
Image Credit
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI