Astronomers discovered oxygen and elements, such as heavy metals in the most distant well -known galaxy. The galaxy is 13.4 billion light -years away, which means it was formed in the early days of the universe, according to a CNN report.

Astronomers believe that the Big Bang created the universe 13.8 billion years ago.

The unusually large, bright distant galaxy, called Jades-GS-Z14-0, was originally found in January 2024 through the use of the James Webb Space Telescope, which observes the universe in infrared light that is invisible to the human eye. The Space Observatory can effectively look back in time at the beginning of a mysterious era called cosmic dawn or the first hundreds of millions of years after the big explosion when the first galaxies were born, because it can observe light that has traveled for billions of years.

The light from the Jades-GS-Z14-0 took 13.4 billion years to reach the corner of the universe, so with webb and other telescopes such as Alma or Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array in the Atacama desert of Chilean years old.

When astronomers used Alma to watch the initial observations of the Webb, they were amazed to find the presence of oxygen and heavy metals because their presence indicates that galaxies were faster than expected in the early days of the universe.

The results of Alma’s detects were published Thursday in separate studies in The Astrophysical Journal and Astronomy & Astrophysics.

“It’s like finding a teenager where you would only expect babies”said Sander Schouws, lead author of the Study The Astrophysical Journal and a PhD candidate at Leiden Observatory at Leiden University in the Netherlands in a statement. “The results show that the galaxy has formed very quickly and also matures quickly, adding to a growing set that the formation of galaxies is happening much faster than expected.”.

The fact that Jades-GS-Z14-0 was full of heavy elements makes astronomers wonder how some of the first galaxies were really-as well as how many others can find using Webb and Alma.

A bright light leads to a surprise

Multiple aspects of Jades-GS-Z14-0, including its large size and brightness, have been shown to be unexpected. As the Webb was investigating 700 distant galaxies, he turned out to be the third brighter despite being the farthest, Schouws said. However, the older galaxies are believed to be smaller and dim because the universe was much smaller at that time.

“In general, galaxies so early in the universe are very different from the well -known galaxies we know from the beautiful images of Hubble and JWST,” Schouws said in an email. “They are much more compact, filled with gases and disorder. Conditions are more extreme because many stars are rapidly formed in small volume. “

Galaxies usually start with huge gas clouds that collapse and rotate, filling with young stars that are largely consisting of light elements such as the sun and hydrogen. As the stars evolve over time, they create heavier elements such as oxygen and minerals, which are scattered throughout the galaxy, as the stars explode at the end of their lives. In turn, the elements released from the dying stars lead to the formation of more stars as well as the planets around them.

But nothing about Jades-GS-Z14-0 doesn’t fit this model. On the contrary, the galaxy contains 10 times more heavy elements than expected, the authors of the study said.

“Such elements are produced by huge stars and the large amount of oxygen suggests that many generations of large mass stars have already been born and dies,” said Dr. Stefano Carniani, Assistant Professor at Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy, and lead author of the Study of Astronomy and Astrophysics. In conclusion, Jades-GS-Z14-0 is more mature than expected and these results suggest that the first generation of galaxies has gathered their mass very quickly. “

The distance

The use of ALMA has also allowed researchers to confirm the galaxy distance, which was originally measured using the Webb, and to improve their measurements. Together, both telescopes can be used to study the formation and evolution of the first galaxies, said Rychard Bouwens, Associate Professor at the University of Leiden and co-author of the study in The Astrophysical Journal.

“I was really amazed at this clear oxygen detection in Jades-GS-Z14-0”said Gergö Popping, an astronomer of the European South Observatory at the European Regional Center. Popping did not participate in either of the two studies.

“It shows that galaxies can form faster after the big explosion than previously believed. This result shows the important role that Alma plays in the revelation of the conditions under which the first galaxies were formed in our universe. “

While Webb can help detect extremely distant galaxies, Alma can zoom in to study gas and dust inside them by detecting the distant infrared light they emit, Carniani said. Studying such galaxies can help to shed light on the many remaining mysteries of the cosmic dawn, such as what happened shortly after the first start of the universe and the identities of the first heavenly objects that appeared.

The authors of the study believe that early galaxies may have formed more stars and stars in greater mass than expected, which would also affect the brightness of the galaxy as a whole.

“It’s like burning candles: you can have candles with a wide wick that have a glittering flame (big stars) or you can have candles that burn slowly and effectively (regular stars),” Schouws said.

However, more observations are needed to understand exactly what the researchers see, he said.

The team wants to determine whether the galaxy and rapid evolution are truly unique or if there are more similar in the early universe, as a single celestial object is not enough to create a new model of galaxies, Carniani said.