"Astonishing" discovery: Oxygen is found in the universe where it shouldn't be

Our view of the Universe’s first galaxies is changing fast. Once, astronomers believed early galaxies were slow to mature, lacking heavy elements like oxygen.

Now, a discovery made in a remote desert has flipped that idea. At the heart of this revelation is JADES-GS-z14-0 – the most distant confirmed galaxy ever found. It glows not only with ancient light but also with unexpected chemical complexity.

The detection of oxygen in this galaxy has forced astronomers to reconsider how fast galaxies took shape after the Big Bang. These new findings have emerged from two separate research teams using one of the world’s most powerful telescopes.

Their work, built on years of observations, is helping reshape our understanding of cosmic history.

Window into the early Universe

JADES-GS-z14-0 lies so far away that its light took 13.4 billion years to reach us. That means we’re seeing it as it looked when the Universe was just 300 million years old – a mere 2% of its current age. Despite its youth, this galaxy shows signs of advanced development.

​The European Southern Observatory (ESO), which collaborates with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, played a key role in observing the distant galaxy.​

ALMA, with its location in the Atacama Desert, continues to uncover cosmic details that other telescopes can’t reach. Its latest achievement? Detecting oxygen in JADES-GS-z14-0.

“It is like finding an adolescent where you would only expect babies,” said Sander Schouws, a PhD candidate at Leiden Observatory, the Netherlands, and first author of the Dutch-led study.

“The results show the galaxy has formed very rapidly and is also maturing rapidly.”

Mature galaxy in an infant Universe

Early galaxies were thought to consist mostly of hydrogen and helium. Heavier elements like oxygen were expected to emerge later, after multiple generations of stars lived and died.

Oxygen is forged in the cores of stars and then scattered across space by stellar explosions. Until now, researchers believed this process hadn’t occurred much by the 300-million-year mark.

Yet JADES-GS-z14-0 has about ten times more heavy elements than previously thought possible for such an early galaxy. This surprising chemical richness points to a much faster rate of star formation and death than earlier models allowed.

“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 of Pisa, Italy.

“The evidence that a galaxy is already mature in the infant Universe raises questions about when and how galaxies formed.”

Oxygen pinpoints galaxy location

The oxygen detection didn’t just reveal new information about the galaxy’s makeup. It also gave astronomers a better way to measure the galaxy’s distance.

ALMA’s detection of oxygen allowed researchers to estimate the galaxy’s location in the cosmos with unprecedented accuracy.

​Eleonora Parlanti, a PhD student at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa and co-author of the study, explained the significance of the finding.

“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,” said Parlanti.

Enhancing our view of the early Universe

While ALMA provided the final confirmation, the galaxy’s story began with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

JWST’s powerful infrared sensors first spotted JADES-GS-z14-0 and marked it as a candidate for further study. That’s when ALMA stepped in to provide deeper insight and validation.

“While the galaxy was originally discovered with the James Webb Space Telescope, it took ALMA to confirm and precisely determine its enormous distance,” noted 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.”

The combined power of these two telescopes makes it possible to study galaxies not just by their light but by their chemical fingerprints. Together, they allow astronomers to build a more complete picture of the early Universe.

Galaxy formation after the Big Bang

The detection of oxygen in such a young galaxy suggests the early Universe evolved more quickly than expected.

Galaxies might not have needed as much time to grow complex structures and develop rich oxygen-based chemical diversity. This finding challenges earlier models that assumed slower progress.

Gergö Popping, an ESO astronomer at the European ALMA Regional Centre who did not take part in the research, shares the same sense of wonder.

“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,” said Popping.

“This result showcases the important role ALMA plays in unraveling the conditions under which the first galaxies in our Universe formed.”

Oxygen-rich galaxy raises new questions

This discovery leaves astronomers with more questions than answers. How did such a young galaxy become chemically mature so quickly?

Are there more galaxies like JADES-GS-z14-0 out there, waiting to be found? And if so, what does that mean for our theories about galaxy formation?

As ALMA and JWST continue their joint work, scientists hope to uncover more early galaxies and gather stronger evidence. Each new detection brings us closer to understanding the first chapters of our cosmic story.

The early Universe may be far more dynamic than we ever imagined.

Image Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

—–

Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates. 

Check us out on EarthSnap, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

—–