Using Helium, Astronomers Blow Certainty Into Early Big Bang Conditions

Newswise — COLUMBUS, Ohio - New observations regarding the composition of distant galaxies reveal insights into the earliest phases of the universe that confirm decades of scientific understanding of the elements and particles produced by the Big Bang, according to a new study.

Researchers used data from The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) to measure the amount of helium - the second-most common element in the cosmos and a vital ingredient for the formation of life - in metal-poor nebulas, clouds of gas and dust in space where stars are sometimes born. Their findings strengthen long-held theories about how ancient elements, such as carbon and nitrogen, may have been dispersed in the period following the Big Bang.