ALMA telescope detects element found in our teeth in a galaxy 12 billion light-years away

It would be fair to dedicate this week to groundbreaking discoveries as astromers, for very first time, have detected presence of fluorine in a galaxy named, NGP–190387, over 12 billion light-years from Earth. finding is significant as fluorine is an element that is found in our teeth and bones, and scientists believe that it is shedding light on how fluorine is forged in universe. Astromers were able to detect element at such an unimaginable distance using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope, just a day after y confirmed presence of water in a massive early galaxy.

"We all kw about fluorine because toothpaste we use every day contains it in form of fluoride,” says UK-based University of Hertfordshire's Maximilien Franco, who also led new study, published today in Nature Astromy. "Like most elements around us, fluorine is created inside stars but, until w, we did t kw exactly how this element was produced. “We did t even kw which of stars produced majority of fluorine in Universe," he ded, as per an official release.

Originally discovered with European ncy’s (ESA) Herschel Observatory,  NGP–190387 was later observed by ALMA telescope. Since galaxy was exceptionally bright, Franco and his collaborators, spotted faint riation emitted billions of years ago by fluorine in NGP–190387.

A blast from past

While discovery definitely is new, Franco and his collaborators spotted fluorine, in form of hydrogen fluoride, in a form when universe was only 1.4 billion years old, about 10% of its current . Astromers say this detection implies that stars that created fluorine must have lived and died quickly since stars expel elements y form in ir cores as y reach end of ir lives. It is believed that production sites of fluorine were most likely  Wolf–Rayet stars, which according to experts are "very massive stars that live only a few million years, a blink of eye in Universe’s history". 

se stars were earlier being considered possible sources of cosmic fluorine, but astromers did t kw until w how important y were in producing this element in early Universe. Joking about discovery, Franco said, "We have shown that Wolf–Rayet stars, which are among most massive stars kwn and can explode violently as y reach end of ir lives, help us, in a way, to maintain good dental health."

Chentao Yang, an ESO associate in Chile said, "With ELT, we will be able to observe NGP–190387 through direct light of stars, gaining crucial information on stellar content of this galaxy." Although this isn't first time when ALMA telescope opened new pathways for scientific discoveries as recently it discovered first water molecules in  SPT0311-58 galaxy located 12.8 billion light-years from our planet.

(Im: Twitter/@ESO)