00:00How did the early universe clear its cosmic fog?
00:03It's a puzzle astronomers have worked on for decades.
00:06Hubble just found a surprise.
00:07For its first billion years, the universe was filled with neutral hydrogen gas.
00:12That fog absorbed ultraviolet light.
00:14About 13 billion years ago, a period called reionization began clearing it away.
00:20For years, a leading theory credited exploding stars.
00:23Their powerful winds were thought to clear paths for ultraviolet light to escape galaxies.
00:28But NASA's Hubble Space Telescope suggests it worked the other way around.
00:33In nearby starburst galaxies, astronomers found stronger winds meant less escaping radiation.
00:39So those winds may actually trap the light.
00:41Instead, radiation from young massive stars may escape before those stars explode.
00:46The findings appear in nature astronomy.
00:49They could change how scientists see the universe's last great transformation.
00:53Disclosure.
00:54This video contains stock footage and content created or enhanced using AI-assisted tools.
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