Oxygen detected in galaxy just 300 million years after big bang
This image shows the precise location in the night sky of the galaxy JADES-GS-z14-0, an extremely tiny dot in the Fornax constellation. As of today, this is the most distant confirmed galaxy we know of. Its light took 13.4 billion years to reach us and shows the conditions of the Universe when it was only 300 million years old. The inset of the image shows a close-up of this primordial galaxy as seen with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The inset is overlaid on an image taken with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Carniani et al./S. Schouws et al/JWST: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), Ben Johnson (CfA), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Phill Cargile (CfA)
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Astronomers have detected oxygen in the most distant known galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0, just 300 million years after the Big Bang. The discovery, made using the ALMA telescope, suggests galaxies formed and matured far more rapidly than previously believed.
JADES-GS-z14-0, discovered in 2024, is the farthest confirmed galaxy observed, with its light traveling 13.4 billion years to reach Earth. Scientists expected the early universe to lack heavy elements, but findings show this galaxy contains significantly more oxygen than anticipated, indicating rapid star formation and chemical enrichment.
The breakthrough, reported by two independent research teams, provides a more precise distance measurement of the galaxy and challenges conventional timelines of galaxy evolution. Scientists highlight the synergy between the ALMA telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in pushing the boundaries of early cosmic discoveries.
Experts say this finding could reshape our understanding of how galaxies formed and evolved in the universe's infancy.
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