(MENAFN) Astronomers in Australia have uncovered evidence that the early Universe was warmer than expected before stars ever formed, according to a new study. The findings were published recently by researchers at the International Center of Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).

The team, led by Australia's Curtin University, has been investigating the elusive "Epoch of Reionization"—a critical period in cosmic history theorized but yet to be directly observed via radio telescopes. As described in the university’s statement, this epoch marks the end of the Cosmic Dark Ages, about one billion years after the Big Bang, when the gas between galaxies transformed from opaque to transparent, allowing light from the first stars and galaxies to travel freely across space.

Utilizing the Murchison Widefield Array telescope (MWA) at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization’s Murchison Radio-Astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia, the researchers detected the first signs of "gas heating up between galaxies nearly 800 million years after the Big Bang," said ICRAR scientist Ridhima Nunhokee, lead author of the study’s initial phase published in The Astrophysical Journal.

“The research suggests this heating is likely driven by the energy from early sources of X-rays from early black holes and stellar remnants spreading through the Universe,” explained Professor Cathryn Trott, who heads the Epoch of Reionisation project at ICRAR.

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