Astronomers have made a surprising discovery of oxygen and heavy metals in the farthest known galaxy. This galaxy is believed to have formed in the early days of the universe.

In a remarkable revelation, astronomers have found oxygen in the farthest known galaxy, along with other elements like heavy metals. According to the discovery, the galaxy is located 13.4 billion light-years away, meaning it was formed in the early days of the universe. Astronomers believe that the universe was created by the big bang 13.8 billion years ago. According to a report by CNN International, the unusually large and bright distant galaxy, known as JADES-GS-z14-0, was first observed in January 2024 using the James Webb Space Telescope, which enabled the observation of the universe in invisible infrared light to the human eye. The space observatory can effectively look back in time to the beginning of a mysterious period called Cosmic Dawn or the first few hundred million years after the big bang, as it can observe light that has traveled from space to Earth for billions of years. It took 13.4 billion years for the light from JADES-GS-z14-0 to reach our corner of the universe, so observatories like Webb and ALMA or the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile’s Atacama Desert are able to see the galaxy as it was only 300 million years old. When astronomers used ALMA to follow up Webb’s initial observations, they were astonished to find the presence of oxygen and heavy metals, as their presence indicates that galaxies formed faster in the early days of the universe than expected.

FASTER THAN EXPECTED ALMA’s findings were published in separate studies on Thursday in The Astrophysical Journal and Astronomy & Astrophysics. Sander Schouws, the lead author of The Astrophysical Journal study and a doctoral candidate at Leiden Observatory at Leiden University in the Netherlands, stated, “It’s like finding an adolescent where you thought a baby was sleeping. The results contribute to the growing evidence that galaxy formation happens much faster than expected and also matures rapidly.” THIRD BRIGHTEST GALAXY The unexpected aspects of JADES-GS-z14-0, such as its large size and brightness, were substantiated. Schouws mentioned that while Webb examined 700 distant galaxies, this galaxy, despite being the most distant, was the third brightest. However, the oldest galaxies are expected to be smaller and fainter because the universe was much smaller back then. In an email, Schouws remarked, “In general, galaxies in this early era of the universe are very different from the famous galaxies we know from the beautiful images of Hubble and JWST. They are much more compact, rich in gas, and disordered. Conditions are more extreme because numerous stars are rapidly forming in a small volume.”