protostar-the early stage of a massive primordial star of our universe，and the researchers'computer simulation，which has been called a "cosmic Rosetta Stone．"sets the bar for further investigation into the star formation process．The question of how the first stars evolved is so important because their formations and eventual explo-sions provided the seeds for subsequent stars to come into being．

　　According to their simulation，gravity acted on minute density variations in matter，gases，and the mysterious"dark matter''of the universe after the Big Bang in order to form this early stage of a star-a protostar with a mass of just one percent of our sun．The simulation reveals how pre-stellar gases would have actually evolved under the simpler physics of the early universe to form this protostar．

　　Dr．Yoshida's simulation also shows that the protostar would likely evolve into a massive star capableof synthesizing heavy elements，not just in later generations of stars，but soon after the Big Bang．

　　"This geneal picture of star formation，and the ability to compare how stellar objects form in different time periods and regions of the universe，will eventually allow investigation into the originsof life and planets，"said Lars Hernquist，a Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University and a coauthor of this latest report．"The abundance of elements in the universe has increased as stars haveaccumulated，"he says，"and the formation and destruction of stars continues to spread these ele． ments further across the universe．So when you think about it．a11 of the elements in our bodies originally formed from nuclear reactions in the centers of stars，long ago．"

　　Their simulation of the birth of a protostar in the early universe signifies a key step toward theambitious goal of piecing together the formation of an entire primordial star and of predicting the massand properties of these first stars of the universe．More powerful computers，more physica