I’d like to posit, chronologically, what I think is the answer to the ambiguities….
1) Expansion lowered plasma temp. When it dropped to 3000K, electrons bonded to protons to produce first atoms. [He atoms formed slightly earlier.]
2) But atomic h is opaque. Shortly after the above, H2 formed. This is when the cosmos became transparent, allowing us to now see this glow in the form of the famous CMBR.
3) With continued expansion, nothing existed that glowed, hence came the Dark Ages.
4) The slight amount of anisotropy (huge clumps) , after perhaps150 million years or so, allowed the first protostars to form. Their release of light from gravitation energy (collapse energy) caused their surrounding envelopes to become ionized. These local regions became opaque as a result, so the Dark Ages continued.
4) As these massive stars multiplied, exploded to produce dust, they eventually formed galaxies. This dust contributed to the opacity.
5) But the galaxies were powerful radiation emitters, which eventually pushed the dust, and enough ionized gas, aside to allow their light to travel through the vast molecular (transparent H2) clouds that were envelops around the stars and galaxy. The Cosmic Dawn was born.
Is this close?
iPhone at Snooze.
![Grinning face :grinning: 😀](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png)