There's something wrong with our cosmological models, and it's something as fundamental as oxygen. Two separate teams of astronomers have just detected this element in the most distant galaxy known, JADES-GS-z14-0, at such a distance that Its light took a whopping 13,4 billion years to reach us.
We are essentially observing a galaxy as it appeared when the universe was just 300 million years old, a paltry 2% of its current age. But here's the thing: There shouldn't be all that oxygen. It's like finding a 14-year-old boy who is two meters tall and has a full beard. Something in our way of conceiving the growth and maturation of primordial galaxies needs to be revised, and quickly too.
Farthest Galaxy, a surprising and unexpected maturity
The discovery, reported in two separate studies, was made possible by theAtacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array (SOUL), of which theEuropean Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner. What does this all mean? Galaxies typically begin their lives filled with young stars composed mostly of light elements like hydrogen and helium. Only over time, as these stars evolve and die, are heavier elements like oxygen created and lost.
Researchers had always thought that, at 300 million years old, the universe was still too young to have galaxies rich in heavy elements. Yet the two ALMA studies indicate that This primordial galaxy has about 10 times more heavy elements than expected. And that's no small detail: on the contrary. It is the discovery, in fact, that our vision of stellar evolution has been, all this time, spectacularly wrong.
It's like finding a teenager where you'd expect only children.
This is how he describes the discovery Sander Schouws, PhD student at theLeiden Observatory, in the Netherlands, and first author of the Dutch study, accepted for publication on The Astrophysical Journal.
An extraordinary precision
The detection of oxygen not only revolutionized our understanding of galaxy formation, but also allowed astronomers to determine the distance to JADES-GS-z14-0 with unprecedented precision: we are talking about an uncertainty of just 0,005%. To give you an idea, that's like being accurate to within 5 centimeters over a distance of one kilometer.
Slang Popping, ESO astronomer at theEuropean ALMA Regional Center who was not involved in the studies, admits: “I was really surprised by this clear detection of oxygen. It suggests that galaxies may form more rapidly after the Big Bang than previously thought.”
“I was amazed by the unexpected results because they opened a new view on the early stages of galaxy evolution,” he says. Stefano Carniani, of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy, and lead author of the other paper, that
accepted for publication on
Astronomy & Astrophysics .
Synergy between telescopes
If the galaxy was originally discovered with the space telescope James Webb, it took ALMA to confirm and precisely determine its enormous distance. This collaboration between different instruments demonstrates how important the multi-instrument approach is in modern astronomy.
It's not just a fascinating discovery; from the most distant galaxy comes a loud ring that forces us to reconsider the speed with which galaxies formed in the early universe. Our cosmological models may need a serious revision, and I have the feeling that this is always and only the beginning of a new understanding of our universe.
