Youthful galaxy in the early universe was a heavy metal rebel

image via Space.com

June 10, 2024, 2:00 PM

• •The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted the oldest carbon ever seen in the universe.
• •The carbon was found in a galaxy that we see as it existed just 350 million years after the Big Bang.
• •The discovery suggests that stars lived fast during the cosmos' formative years.

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted the most distant carbon ever seen, in a galaxy that we see as it existed just 350 million years after the Big Bang. This is the first time that an element heavier than hydrogen or helium has been confirmed in the very early universe. The discovery suggests that stars lived fast during the cosmos' formative years and that the presence of carbon and oxygen in the early universe means that astronomers and astrobiologists can perhaps start talking about the existence of planets and maybe life earlier in the universe too.

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