locate some 11 billion light - old age from Earth are two clouds of gas . Just two billion twelvemonth young than the Big Bang itself , they come along to be the first known clouds that are completely unaltered since the birth of the universe .
The elements that make up a cloud of natural gas or other cosmic construction can aid reveal when it in the beginning formed . The very first nuclear reaction after the Big Bang only created the light elements : hydrogen , He , and a bantam handful of atomic number 2 . All the overweight elements – which astronomers give the blanket term “ metals ” , even those that are n’t metal in a chemical sense – were organise afterwards , in the fiery crucible of the other stars .
Now astronomers Michele Fumagalli and Xavier Prochaska at UC Santa Cruz and John O’Meara of St. Michael ’s College in Vermont have tell apart two pristine clouds that are essentially completely devoid of metals . Fumagalli explain what this means :
“ Their chemical make-up is strange . This gas is of aboriginal composing , as it was raise during the first few moment after the Big Bang . ”
The two clouds are place in the constellations of Leo and Ursa Major , which has give them their unofficial sobriquet . The Leo Cloud is located 11.6 billion weak - years from Earth , while the Ursa Major Cloud is even further out , at 11.9 light - years . That place both at a distributor point roughly two billion years after the Big Bang . The clouds are situate in front of even more aloof quasars , and the powerful Light Within from these ancient structures has help crystalise the cloud .
Using the Keck I telescope at Mauna Kea , Hawaii , the researchers examine the composition of the cloud . They find mess of hydrogen , but no other element . While the Keck I telescope is n’t really suited to pick up the key signature of the other primordial elements , helium and lithium , it should have been able-bodied to detect the presence of heavy elements like O or carbon . The fact that none were spotted powerfully intimate the cloud form before the first stars created these elements .
What ’s more , the astronomers say the atomic number 1 - to - metal ratio of the clouds is less than 1/6000 that of the Sun in the Leo Cloud and just 1/16000 in the Ursa Major Cloud . Even the most ancient star in our galaxy have a ratio of at least 1/50 that of the Sun . The cloud also hold back significant amounts of the hydrogen isotope deuterium , which astronomers believe was created in quantity after the Big Bang but destruct during the formation of the genius . The researcher say this discovery should help fill in some vital questions about when ancient gas clouds get to hold metals , and how that fit into the larger evolution of the world .
ViaPhysics World . Artist ’s impression of ancient swarm by Ceverino , Dekel , and Primack .
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