The first billion years

Understanding the Universe's first billion years

Northern Light pursues the first light of the Universe, the era when the first stars and galaxies ended the cosmic dark ages, the earliest black holes grew, and the intergalactic medium was reionized. We approach that dawn through observation, theory, and data science, the three lights that meet in our emblem. JWST has brought the first billion years into direct view, but these questions will outlast any one instrument. The initiative connects researchers at the University of Toronto and York University, most of them within a few blocks of each other.