Oxygen discovered in a world outside Milky Way galaxy

27-Mar-2025

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Astronomers have detected oxygen in JADES-GS-z14-0, the most distant galaxy ever observed, located 13.4 billion light-years away.

This discovery, made using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), reveals that galaxies in the early universe matured far faster than previously thought.

ALMA’s detection of oxygen suggests the galaxy is chemically adkept anced, containing 10 times more heavy elements than expected for its age.

“It’s like finding an adolescent where you’d only expect babies,” says Sander Schouws, lead author of a study from Leiden University. Oxygen forms in stars and disperses when they die, meaning this galaxy experienced rapid star formation and supernova activity within its first 200 million years.