Shortly after the big bang, the universe was a cold, dark place, barely recognizable to those of us used to seeing beautiful telescope images of a sky filled with brilliant lights.  I’ll tell the story of how this cosmic dark age ended with the birth of the first stars, and how those stars burned off the fog of the early universe and built the sky we see around us today.  I’ll also talk about how astronomers are peering back in time to see this cosmic dawn with our own eyes.