Basic Building block of life: Carbon likely formed shortly after the Big Bang
Carbon could be one of the earliest heavier elements in the universe. This is suggested by a new discovery with potentially far-reaching consequences.
(Image: NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez)
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a research group has found surprising amounts of carbon in a very young galaxy in the early universe. It had previously been assumed that the substance was only formed in substantial quantities relatively late, namely a billion years after the Big Bang, Roberto Maiolino from the University of Cambridge explains.
The group has now proven it, but a comparatively large amount of it in a galaxy only 350 million years after the Big Bang. This not only indicates that previous theories on the formation of the elements need to be revised and that carbon may have been the third heavy element to form. The emergence of life could therefore have been possible much earlier.
Extraterrestrial life possible much earlier
As the research group recalls, in the early days after the Big Bang, the universe consisted almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, as well as small amounts of lithium. All other elements were only produced later in stars and hurled into space in huge explosions. In astronomy, this is referred to as metals. According to theories, more and more of these metals were produced with each generation of stars until there were enough of them to make rocky planets such as our Earth possible and ultimately even the development of life. Because terrestrial life is based on carbon, the element plays a central role.
The fact that so much carbon was discovered when analyzing spectral data from early galaxies was a surprise, Maiolino now explains. It had been assumed that the element was formed by entirely different processes and much later. The discovery suggests that the early generations of stars functioned very differently than assumed. One hypothesis is that carbon was hurled into space in large quantities during stellar explosions, while oxygen was left behind and collapsed into black holes. This means that the emergence of life in the cosmos was also possible much earlier. The discovery will soon be presented in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
(mho)