Humans breathe one of the most common elements in the universe- the oxygen. It is a wonder why scientists could not easily detect it elsewhere in the cosmos, not until the recent discovery by the astronomers in China.
Said discovery, published in The Astrophysical Science journal, described as the "first detection of extragalactic molecular oxygen." This new information could lead to a further understanding of oxygen's contribution to the evolution of the cosmos.
A team of astronomers from Shanghai led by Junzhi Wang discovered the molecular oxygen somewhere in 581 million light-years away from the Milky Way particularly in Markarian 231 which lies in the constellation Ursa Major which is also notable for its bright quasar.
Markarian 231 is not only the site for the first detection of molecular oxygen, but it also has the most amount of oxygen ever recorded in history outside the Milky Way galaxy. Markarian 231 was first discovered in 1969 and ever since then, it has become a curious subject for scientists because it contains the closest known quasar, an active galactic nuclei (AGN) that inhabit the core regions of special galaxies and among the brightest objects in the universe.
The astronomers from China's Shanghai Astronomical Observatory were able to spot the oxygen molecule by using the radio telescopes on Earth. With the help of IRAM 30-meter telescope from Spain and the NOEMA interferometer in France, they were able to detect radiation at a wavelength of 2.52 millimeters which is a signal of Oxygen in its breathable form for the first time outside of our galaxy and were able to have "deep observations."
It is not easy to detect oxygen from Earth because our planet absorbs a lot of the wavelengths that are needed to detect oxygen molecules so it is very tricky to pinpoint the element through our atmosphere. In previous researches, oxygen was spotted in Rho Ophiuchi and Orion Nebula which are respectively 350 and 1,344 light-years away from Earth and are both located in our galaxy.
Although oxygen is present in Markarian 231, it is still impossible to travel and breathe there given the air composition is not the same as what we have here on Earth, which has a combination of gases like nitrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, and all other molecules.
But this discovery offers an important way of understanding how oxygen interacts with such extreme astrophysical areas and as to how it affects the formation of the general cosmos. "O2 may be a significant coolant for molecular gas in such regions affected by AGN-drive outflows," the researchers noted.
"New astrochemical models are needed to explain the implied high molecular oxygen abundance in such regions several kiloparsecs away from the center of the galaxies," they added.
This also suggests that we may find more amounts of oxygen elsewhere in our universe using different equipment. In the future, researchers may inspect other star-forming regions or go beyond our galaxy, in hopes of finding more oxygen molecules that are essential for human survival and can lead to much greater discovery and advancement in human lives.
After all, the universe still holds many secrets that are yet to be found.
