AssetID: 54615318
Headline: RAW VIDEO: Scientists Find Oxygen In Most Distant Galaxy - Overturning Our Understanding Of The Universe
Caption: Two teams of astronomers have independently detected oxygen in the most distant confirmed galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0, prompting scientists to reconsider how rapidly galaxies formed in the early Universe. The discovery, reported in two separate studies, was made possible thanks to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a telescope array in Chile’s Atacama Desert, in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner. This record-breaking detection suggests the galaxy is more chemically evolved than previously expected. Discovered last year, JADES-GS-z14-0 holds the record as the most distant galaxy ever confirmed. Its light has travelled for 13.4 billion years to reach Earth, meaning astronomers observe it as it was when the Universe was less than 300 million years old—around 2% of its current age. “It is like finding an adolescent where you would only expect babies,” said Sander Schouws, a PhD candidate at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands and lead author of the Dutch-led study, which has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. “The results show the galaxy has formed very rapidly and is also maturing rapidly, adding to a growing body of evidence that the formation of galaxies happens much faster than was expected.” Galaxies typically begin life dominated by young stars composed mostly of hydrogen and helium. As stars evolve, they forge heavier elements such as oxygen, which are then dispersed throughout their host galaxies upon the stars' deaths. Previously, researchers believed that at just 300 million years old, the Universe was still too young to host galaxies abundant in heavy elements. However, the two ALMA studies suggest JADES-GS-z14-0 contains around ten times more heavy elements than anticipated. “I was astonished by the unexpected results because they opened a new view on the first phases of galaxy evolution,” said Stefano Carniani, of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy, and lead author of the second study, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. “The evidence that a galaxy is already mature in the infant Universe raises questions about when and how galaxies formed.” The detection of oxygen has also enabled astronomers to refine their measurements of the galaxy’s distance with remarkable accuracy. “The ALMA detection offers an extraordinarily precise measurement of the galaxy’s distance down to an uncertainty of just 0.005 percent. This level of precision—analogous to being accurate within 5 cm over a distance of 1 km—helps refine our understanding of distant galaxy properties,” explained Eleonora Parlanti, a PhD student at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa and an author on the Astronomy & Astrophysics study. JADES-GS-z14-0 was originally discovered using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), but the new observations from ALMA have confirmed and more precisely determined its vast distance. “While the galaxy was originally discovered with the James Webb Space Telescope, it took ALMA to confirm and precisely determine its enormous distance,” said Associate Professor Rychard Bouwens, a member of the team at Leiden Observatory. “This shows the amazing synergy between ALMA and JWST to reveal the formation and evolution of the first galaxies.” Gergö Popping, an ESO astronomer at the European ALMA Regional Centre who was not involved in the studies, described the findings as remarkable. “I was really surprised by this clear detection of oxygen in JADES-GS-z14-0. It suggests galaxies can form more rapidly after the Big Bang than had previously been thought. This result showcases the important role ALMA plays in unravelling the conditions under which the first galaxies in our Universe formed.”
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