A group of scientists has detected oxygen which could be from the early stages of the universe. According to a press release issued by the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, the gas is located about 13.1 billion light years from Earth in one of the oldest and most distant galaxies known.
For the research, the international team examined the galaxy using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array telescope system in Chile. The scientists eventually found the oxygen they were searching for by locating the flare of light from activity–called cosmic re-ionization–that would indicate its presence. They eventually calculated the oxygen to be at very low levels–just one tenth of that found in Earth’s sun.
The team plans to pursue higher-resolution images of the area for further study.