The oxygen existed in the universe almost to its birth, the researchers found – RIA Novosti

11:18 17.06.2016

(updated: 12:04 17.06.2016 )

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MOSCOW, June 17 – RIA Novosti . Observing one of the oldest galaxies have shown that oxygen appeared in the universe almost through moments after her birth, which increases our chances of finding extraterrestrial intelligence and life, say scientists in a paper published in the journal Science.

“These our results show that this galaxy contains about a tenth of oxygen, which is contained in our sun. this small number is due to the fact that the universe was young, and during its existence has had time to be born and to die relatively few generations of stars, “- he said . Naoki Yoshida (Naoki Yoshida) from Tokyo University (Japan)

Yoshida and his colleagues made the discovery by observing galaxies that existed during the so-called era of reionization – one of the earliest period of the universe’s life when she gradually It became transparent due to the fact that the light of its first stars destroys the molecules of neutral hydrogen and turn them into ions.

These galaxies are so far away from us (at a distance of 13,1-13,4 billion light-years) that oversee them are possible only with the most powerful telescopes such as the orbiting observatory “Hubble” and ground microwave interferometer telescope ALMA

Using these telescopes, Yoshida team found an unusual galaxy -. SXDF-NB1006-2, which we see in the same condition in which it was after about 700 million years after the Big Bang, at the end of the era of reionization. Its singularity lies in its unique “green” range, indicates the presence of one of the most important elements of life – oxygen.

Although oxygen is relatively small, its presence in detectable quantities in the first billion years of the universe suggests that a significant number of atoms of this element has managed to emerge as a result of the explosions of the first supernovae and during thermonuclear reactions inside stars . This significantly increases our chances that the first life in the universe could have arisen early enough

On the other hand, in this respect, not all so rosy -. According to Yoshida, the ALMA was able to fix the unexpectedly small number of star dust in this galaxy. Stardust is important to us because of her “stuff is made” all the planets and our own body, and its small amount in SXDF-NB1006-2 says that her mother for some mysterious reasons is was almost completely ionized.

This may be due to the fact that an unusually large number of stars in SXDF-NB1006-2, judging by the fact that almost all of the oxygen has been ionized galaxy, is one particularly large and bright stars, whose ultraviolet radiation It has sufficient force to “pull” the electrons from the oxygen atoms. It is possible that the same radiation destroys the cosmic dust particles. Now scientists are watching the other ancient galaxies, trying to understand how unique SXDF-NB1006-2.