Space keeps surprising scientists. Just when we think we understand how the universe began, a new discovery changes the story. This time, astronomers have spotted something truly unexpected far beyond our galaxy. Oxygen has been found in the most distant galaxy ever observed, offering fresh clues about how quickly the early universe grew and changed.
Scientists Discover Oxygen in a Galaxy from the Early Universe:
Scientists have discovered oxygen in the farthest galaxy ever seen, named JADES-GS-z14-0. The light from this galaxy took 13.4 billion years to reach Earth. This means we are seeing the galaxy as it was when the universe was only 300 million years old, still in its very early childhood. The discovery was made using two powerful tools.
- The James Webb Space Telescope
- The ALMA telescope in Chile
Together, these telescopes allowed scientists to study the galaxy’s light and detect oxygen, an element that usually takes time to form inside stars.
Who carried out the study?
The research was conducted by two expert teams. One team came from Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, and the other from Scuola Normale Superiore University in Pisa, Italy. Their work is helping astronomers rethink how and when the first galaxies formed.
Oxygen is created when stars live and die. Finding it in such a young galaxy suggests that stars formed and evolved much faster than scientists expected. In other words, galaxies grew up quicker than previously believed.
Did you know? The oxygen you breathe today was created long ago inside stars, just like the oxygen found in distant galaxies.
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