The Population III stars reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Population III stars

Population III stars are a hypothetical population of extremely massive stars that were believed to be formed in the early universe. They have not been observed directly, but are believed to be components of faint blue galaxies. Their existence is necessary to account for the fact that heavy elements, which could not have been created in the big bang are observed in quasar spectra as well as the existence of faint blue galaxies.

The current model, which seems to be borne out by computer models of stellar evolution is that with no heavy elements from the big bang, it was easy to form stars much more massive than the ones visible today. Typical masses for population III stars are believed to be about one hundred solar masses, which is much larger than current stars.

see population I star, population II star

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