Oxygen discovered in the most distant galaxy ever observed, suggesting galaxy formation is happening faster than expected
Detection of [OIII]88µm in JADES-GS-z14-0 at z=14.1793
(PDF file) https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2507/eso2507b.pdf
The eventful life of a luminous galaxy at z = 14: metal enrichment, feedback, and low gas fraction?
(PDF file) https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2507/eso2507a.pdf
Oxygen discovered in most distant known galaxy | ESO
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2507/
In 2024, a team of NASA astronomers used the JWST's NIRSpec (Near Infrared Spectrograph) to observe a galaxy called 'JADES-GS-z14-0' for nearly 10 hours. After processing the galaxy's spectrum, they found that the redshift of the newly discovered JADES-GS-z14-0 was 14.32, while the redshift of the most distant galaxy detected so far was 13.2. Therefore, it was concluded that this is the most distant galaxy ever observed.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope discovers the most distant galaxy ever observed - GIGAZINE
Because JADES-GS-z14-0 is located 13.4 billion light years away from Earth, the current state of the galaxy is thought to be that of a young galaxy. Young stars are made of light elements such as hydrogen and helium, so researchers thought that 'the JADES-GS-z14-0 we can observe is still young, and therefore these elements are not abundant.'
However, multiple studies using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) built in the Atacama Desert in Chile have shown that JADES-GS-z14-0 contains about 10 times as many heavy elements as expected. In astronomy, 'heavy elements' refers to all elements other than hydrogen and helium, so even though the JADES-GS-z14-0 galaxy that can be observed is still young, it contains oxygen, which is only found in mature galaxies. The presence of oxygen in distant galaxies provides valuable information for exploring star formation activity and the history of element synthesis in the early universe.
by ESO/José Francisco Salgado
'This discovery is like finding an adolescent child when you should only find babies,' said Sander Shouse, a doctoral student at the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands and lead author of the Dutch-led JADES-GS-z14-0 study. 'The higher-than-expected presence of heavy elements indicates that galaxies are forming and maturing very quickly. Recent studies have provided growing evidence that galaxy formation is occurring much faster than expected.'
'We were surprised by this unexpected result, as it opens up new insights into the early stages of galaxy evolution,' said Stefano Carniani, research leader of JADES-GS-z14-0 at the École Normale Supérieure de Pisa in Italy. 'The evidence that a newborn galaxy is already mature raises questions about when and how galaxies form.'
Related Posts:
in Science, Posted by log1e_dh