Ancient galaxies lack the chemical elements for life
A distant galaxy contains less than one percent of the oxygen found in our sun, revealing a time when the universe was a chemical desert.
In the first billion years after the Big Bang, the universe lacked the carbon and oxygen necessary for complex chemistry or biological life. The earliest stars formed from a simple mix of hydrogen and helium, the only elements available in abundance. These heavier elements, which astronomers call metals, only appeared as the first generation of stars reached the end of their lives and exploded, seeding space with new materials.
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