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One of the earliest galaxies in the universe was rich in oxygen, astronomers found. | Credit: Xuanyu Han/Getty Images
A monster galaxy from the early universe shows that the cosmos was rich in oxygen, if it was only less than 3% of its age, astronomers have found. The discovery raises questions about how early life could appear in the universe for the first time.
This is not the first time that astronomers look at this puzzling galaxy called Jades-GS-Z11-0. It was first discovered with that James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) With an overview of some of the deepest and earliest galaxies that have ever been discovered. At that time the galaxy was estimated only 100 million years after the Big Bang – something that should be impossible with our current understanding of cosmology.
However, further refinements of the distance measurement of Jades-GS-Z11-0 have more precise to 400 million years after the Big Bang-still shockingly early, but not early enough to too Breck modern cosmology.
Nevertheless, there were questions. So astronomers recently used the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter -Car (Alma) examine the galaxy more precisely. Alma is a network of 66 connected telescopes high above the Atacama desert in Nordchile. With its telescopic network, Alma can even achieve resolutions higher than JWST, which makes it ideal for follow-up studies that have been discovered by the Orbining Observatory.
Jades-GS-Z11-0 is remarkable. Although it is not nearly as massive as modern galaxies, it is still impressive and ripe. Although the galaxy is so far away that we observe it as it existed in the early universe, it would not look so different if it were placed in today’s universe. But in contrast to modern galaxies, it had only 400 million years to develop it and put it directly on the edge of the first stars and galaxies that had ever appeared in the universe.
However, what is in Jades-GS-Z11-0 is even more remarkable. The astronomers recognized a spectral fingerprint of oxygen in the gas clouds of the galaxy. And not only a little-thorough galaxy houses up to 30% of the oxygen of a fully developed, modern day, you reports in a print paper Submitted to the Open Journal of Astrophysics.
In addition, Jades-GS-Z11-0 is particularly active with the formation of new stars. About six Solar masses Material in this galaxy are converted into new stars every year. This is several times what that Milky Way Is capable and it means that Jades-GS-Z11-0 traces courageous and bright in the early universe.
So here we have an oxygen -rich galaxy that exists immediately after breaking cosmic dawn. The only way to get so much oxygen is over many generations of stars. Each star connects elements in its core and generates together with many other oxygen. This Stars Must die, spread the elements on the galaxy – and then a new generation of stars appears and repeats the cycle, whereby everyone contributes to the mix.
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– Oxygen discovers in most distant galaxies that have ever been seen: “It is like finding a teenager in which they would only expect babies”
– Scientists use the JWST to study an extremely old galaxy that is pierced by the cosmic dark age
– How did we know how far and early in the universe are galaxies?
Jades-GS-Z11-0 do not necessarily break our understanding of How galaxies developed In the early universe, but it challenges it. Getting so much oxygen takes several generations of stars, but when the universe was only 400 million years old, there was not much time for these stars to live and die.
In addition, this a lot of oxygen shows a fascinating new question: How early could life in the universe have developed? Such a large amount of oxygen must be equipped with carbon, silicon and all other elements that are needed for life. Who knows which planets have developed in this young galaxy and what may have arisen on them. However, much more research is required to answer these questions.
