Astronomers use Webb information to measure speedy enhance in oxygen within the early universe
Utilizing new information from the James Webb House Telescope, astronomers have measured the abundance of oxygen within the early universe. The findings, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Complement Collection and posted to the arXiv preprint server, present that the quantity of oxygen in galaxies elevated quickly inside 500–700 million years after the delivery of the universe, and has remained as ample as noticed in trendy galaxies since then. This early look of oxygen signifies that the weather mandatory for all times have been current sooner than anticipated.
Within the early universe, shortly after the Huge Bang, solely gentle components equivalent to hydrogen, helium, and lithium existed. Heavier components like oxygen have been subsequently fashioned via nuclear fusion reactions inside stars and dispersed into galaxies, primarily via occasions like supernova explosions. This ongoing technique of aspect synthesis, unfolding over the huge expanse of cosmic historical past, created the varied components that represent the world and residing organisms round us.
A analysis staff led by Kimihiko Nakajima on the Nationwide Astronomical Observatory of Japan used information from the James Webb House Telescope (JWST) to measure the oxygen in 138 galaxies that existed within the first 2 billion years of the universe. The staff discovered that many of the galaxies had oxygen abundances just like trendy galaxies. However out of the seven earliest galaxies within the pattern, people who existed when the universe was solely 500–700 million years outdated, six of them had roughly half the anticipated oxygen content material.
This speedy enhance in oxygen content occurred sooner than astronomers have been anticipating. This opens the chance that with the required components, like oxygen, already available within the early universe that life could have appeared before beforehand thought.
Extra data:
Kimihiko Nakajima et al, JWST Census for the Mass-Metallicity Star-Formation Relations at z=4-10 with the Self-Constant Flux Calibration and the Correct Metallicity Calibrators, arXiv (2023). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2301.12825 10.3847/1538-4365/acd556
Journal data:
arXiv
Offered by
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
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Astronomers use Webb information to measure speedy enhance in oxygen within the early universe (2023, November 9)
retrieved 12 November 2023
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