Ancient Galaxy Is Farthest Reach In The Universe With Oxygen

Ancient galaxy SXDF-NB1006-2 lies in the farthest reaches of our universe. In fact, not only is it the oldest ever detected, it is also one of the earliest and farthest sources of oxygen from our planet.

Scientists detect most distant oxygen in ancient galaxy - https://t.co/N8U159Zc0F #astronomy #spacenews #discovery pic.twitter.com/iEDME01YW2

— The Space Reporter (@SpaceReporter) June 17, 2016

In a new study published in Science journal, the galaxy, detected using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, was born just 700 million years after the Big Bang, which scientists now believe is among the sources responsible for the reionization of the universe.

Co-author Naoki Yoshida from the University of Tokyo said in a statement that the galaxy contains a tenth of oxygen found in our Sun. The abundance, she said in the statement, is expected due to the fact that the universe was still young and has a history of star formation at the time.

Details regarding the epoch of ionization, according to Space.com, is difficult to pinpoint because of how long ago it happened. However, to see light from such ancient times, researchers had to look for objects as far away as they possibly could.

The galaxy SXDF-NB1006-2 is located about 13.1 billion light-years from earth. When it was first discovered in 2012, it was the most distant galaxy known, and with the help of ALMA, researchers in Chile were able to focus on light from oxygen and dust particles. The oxygen from this galaxy, they noted, was ionized, suggesting that the it has a number of several dozen stars heavier than the sun.

Akio Inoue, an astronomer at Osaka Sangyo Univeristy in Japan shared that seeking heavy elements from the early universe is essential in exploring the star formation activity from those periods.

With the help of this research, scientist can learn the source of reionization: whether it started from massive stars or massive black holes. However, as Inoue remarked that the SXDF-NB1006-2 does not seem to have a super-massive black hole, but some massive stars - leading to the conclusion that these massive stars may have reionized the universe.