atomic number 8 keeps us animated and keeps fires burning . But when it comes to space , we can use oxygen to canvas how beetleweed evolve . And now astronomers can look for it all the way in the very early population .
Using the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea , Hawaii , stargazer from the University of California , Los Angeles , were able to calculate the atomic number 8 content in the galax COSMOS-1908 , which is located a whopping 12 billion idle - years from Earth . The galaxy , which is get 50 times more stars than the Milky Way , has the same proportion of atomic number 8 to H found in galaxies in the local universe of discourse .
" This is by far the most distant galaxy for which the oxygen abundance has really been measured , " said professor Alice Shapley , co - writer of the study describing the findings in theAstrophysical Journal Letters , in astatement . " We ’re calculate back in clip at this galax as it appear 12 billion years ago . "
atomic number 8 is the third most abundant element in the universe ( after hydrogen and helium ) , make up 1.04 percentage of all seeable matter . It is produced in the Congress of Racial Equality of principal towards their recent yr , and it is dispersed and travel around galaxies in several ways .
Supernovae spread hard elements across a Galax urceolata , with the amount of O that escapes from these set off wizard influencing the total abundance we observe . The abundance also calculate on how much O is pushed into intergalactic space by the “ super - wind ” generated by many supernovae exploding near each other , as well as by supermassive black hole . Hydrogen and helium falling into the galaxy from the outside can debase the amount of atomic number 8 we honor .
Supernovae , beetleweed - broad super - lead , and in - falling gas are key features in the phylogenesis of immature galaxies . realise the unconscious process throw us a window into galaxy evolution itself .
" If we can measure how much oxygen is in a extragalactic nebula , it will tell us about all these processes , " state Shapley . " assess the oxygen content of beetleweed over cosmic time is one of the key method we have for infer how coltsfoot grow , as well as how they spew out gas into the intergalactic medium . "
COSMOS-1908 ’s relative abundance of O suggests that these processes must have been combat-ready for many million of year , and hopefully new instruments will poke into oxygen abundance even further back in the universe .
