Using the powerful ALMA and James Webb telescopes, astronomers have discovered atomic oxygen in the galaxy GHZ2, the light from which has journeyed to Earth for 13.4 billion years. The global scientific community is stunned by this discovery, as it is the most distant discovery of oxygen, shedding light on processes that occurred just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. The study is published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Primitive world of the early Universe
Galaxy GHZ2 is hidden in the depths of time – its light began its journey when the Universe was less than 5% of its current age. It could only be detected through a combination of the capabilities of ALMA, which captures submillimeter waves, and James Webb’s infrared “vision”. Working together, the telescopes recorded faint emission from ionized oxygen and hydrogen atoms, revealing the galaxy’s chemical composition and its violent activity.
GHZ2 is a compact galaxy with a mass of a few hundred million Suns, compressed into a space of only a few hundred light-years. Its density is striking: in this parameter it resembles modern globular clusters, although it was formed at a time when the first galaxies were forming in the Universe. The content of elements heavier than helium in GHZ2 is only 10% of solar content – a sign of an immature environment. Heavy elements, including oxygen, were generated by the first hot, long-lived stars, which lived fast and bright, ionizing the surrounding gas with their radiation.
The analysis showed that GHZ2 had intense bursts of star formation – cyclic processes where stars were born much faster than in modern galaxies. It was this violent activity that may have been the key to the rapid growth of galaxies in the early Universe.
Key to the past
Interestingly, the structure of GHZ2 has similarities to globular clusters – ancient dense groups of stars, such as those that exist in the Milky Way. Could similar galaxies have been their “progenitors”? “The answer to this question will change our understanding of galaxy evolution,” noted Tom Bakx of Chalmers University.
Scientists are planning new observations to learn more about the chemical composition of GHZ2 and the mechanisms that turned the primordial gas into stars billions of years ago.
This discovery is a window into an era when the Universe was like a “baby”. The oxygen we see today in GHZ2 is the product of the first generations of stars that lived and died, filling the cosmos with the elements from which planets and life later formed. The study also emphasizes the role of international projects such as ALMA and James Webb in unraveling the deep mysteries of space.
We previously reported on how oxygen may not be a sign of life on the planet.
According to dailygalaxy.com
