Why are the galaxies distributed in clumps and filaments?
• When were the first stars formed, and what were they like? As of 2004 this was quite a hot topic in astrophysics. See for example: • Volker Bromm and Richard B. Larson, The First Stars. • What are Gamma Ray Bursters? Gamma ray bursters (GRBs) appear as bursts of gamma rays coming from points randomly scattered in the sky. These bursts are very brief, lasting between a few milliseconds to a few hundred seconds. For a long time there were hundreds of theories about what caused them, but very little evidence for any of these theories, since nothing was ever seen at the location where one of these bursts occurred. Their random distribution eventually made a convincing case that they occurred not within our solar system or within our galaxy, but much farther away. Given this, it was clear that they must be extraordinarily powerful. Starting in the late 1990s, astronomers made a concerted effort to catch gamma ray bursters in the act, focusing powerful telescopes to observe them in the vis
