Recently a group of astronomers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CSA) announced the discovery of oxygen outside the Milky Way, something that happens for the first time in the whole history of the human being.
The group, led by Junzhi Wang, detected molecular oxygen in the galaxy named “Markarian 231” or “UGC 08058”, which is approximately 561 million light years from Earth.
The study was published in “The Astrophysical Journal” and it is detailed that it is believed that in “Markarian 231” there could be two supermassive black holes active in its center, rotating around each other.
Continuous shocks inside may be releasing oxygen from water in molecular clouds.
They were able to reach these conclusions thanks to the Spanish radio telescope IRAM, with which they observed the galaxy for 4 days and “we detect the emission [de oxígeno molecular] in [una] external galaxy for the first time, “the researchers wrote in their article.
Experts agree that if these results are maintained, this phenomenon will serve to understand more about molecular oxygen in galaxies and the molecular outflow from an active galactic nucleus, the researchers said.
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