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

This discovery challenges previous expectations, as the galaxy, seen just 300 million years after the Big Bang, contains far more oxygen than expected for such an early object.

Using the ALMA telescope, scientists found that the galaxy is chemically more evolved than anticipated, suggesting that stars had already lived, died, and produced oxygen in just a few hundred million years, the Daily Galaxy has reported.

This discovery implies that galaxy formation in the early universe was faster and more complex than previously thought.

Written by B.C. Begley