What To Know
- Previous research into the formation of elements in the early Universe suggested that the carbonan essential element for life as we know it, had only begun to form in large quantities around a billion years after the Big Bang.
- For these reasons, the large quantities of carbon necessary for the formation of rocky planets and potentially for life were therefore supposed to appear very late after the Big Bang, hence the interest in this discovery.
- To make this discovery, astronomers used the James Webb Telescope’s near-infrared spectrograph to observe an ancient galaxy known as GS-z12By breaking down the light from this galaxy into a spectrum of colors, the researchers were able to read the chemical fingerprint of this primitive object developed only 350 million years after the Big Bang.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) recently made a discovery that revolutionizes our understanding of the first galaxies and the origins of the elements essential to life. Astronomers have detected a carbon cloud in a distant, compact galaxy, as it appeared only 350 million years after the Big Bang. This observation marks the first detection of an element other than hydrogen in the early Universe.
An unexpected discovery
Previous research into the formation of elements in the early Universe suggested that the carbonan essential element for life as we know it, had only begun to form in large quantities around a billion years after the Big Bang. This hypothesis was based on several observations and theoretical models of stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis. In detail, after the Big Bang, the Universe was mainly composed of hydrogen, helium and traces of lithium. The heavier elements, known as metals in astronomy, were created in the burning interiors of the first stars. The latter, called Population III starswere very massive and short-lived. Until now, it was thought that these massive stars produced mainly oxygen and other heavy elements, but little carbon. Standard models predicted that this element would form in significant quantities in subsequent generations of stars (Population II) which are less massive and have different nuclear fusion processes. According to these models, it would have taken several cycles of star formation and destruction to enrich the Universe with carbon. For these reasons, the large quantities of carbon necessary for the formation of rocky planets and potentially for life were therefore supposed to appear very late after the Big Bang, hence the interest in this discovery. Recent observations show that carbon was formed much earlier than expected. According to researchers, this element could even be the oldest “metal” of all.
Credits: NASA, ESA, ASC and STScI
The Galaxy GS-z12 and its secrets
To make this discovery, astronomers used the James Webb Telescope’s near-infrared spectrograph to observe an ancient galaxy known as GS-z12By breaking down the light from this galaxy into a spectrum of colors, the researchers were able to read the chemical fingerprint of this primitive object developed only 350 million years after the Big BangarXiv.
