'Little Lion' Galaxy Reveals Little Secrets about the Big Bang

A galaxy sparkling faintly 30 million light-years away could help researchers take in more about the introduction of the universe - the Big Bang. 

Researchers have found a galaxy with the least level of metals, or overwhelming substance elements, ever seen in a star system. Galaxy AGC 198691, nicknamed Leoncino, or "Little Lion," offers stargazers the opportunity to see what conditions resembled specifically after the Big Bang. 

"Finding the most metal-poor galaxy ever is exciting since it could help contribute to a quantitative test of the Big Bang," Indiana University professor and co-author of the study John Salzer said in a press release.

"There are relatively few ways to explore conditions at the birth of the universe, but low-metal galaxies are among the most promising."

In the immediate result of the Big Bang, the main elements in the universe were hydrogen, helium, and only a couple of other light elements. Metals shaped later after the hydrogen and helium consolidated to frame stars. 

By following the hints of metals in a galaxy, researchers can tell the amount of development and star creation the galaxy has experienced. 

"Low metal abundance is essentrially a sign that very little stellar activity has taken place compared to most galaxies," graduate student and lead author of the study Alec Hirschauer said in the release.

Space experts can assess the metal wealth in a galaxy by breaking down the light radiated. Spectroscopic perceptions empower researchers to see the full range of light, much similarly a crystal scatters sunlight into a rainbow. 

The nearness of various elements like hydrogen and helium and metals make diverse sorts of light.

"A picture is worth a thousand words, but a spectrum is worth a thousand pictures," Professor Salzer said. "It's astonishing the amount of information we can gather about places millions of light years away." 

Low-metal wealth situations are for the most part connected with the start of the universe, so discovering one now is significantly difficult. What's more, they are even rarer in Earth's neck of the universe - the Milky Way galaxy has made a ton of heavier elements. 

Notwithstanding being 30 million light-years away, the Little Lion galaxy is still thought to be in our nearby universe, which incorporates anyplace inside 1 billion light years from Earth. Its relative vicinity will make it much simpler to think about than low-metal cosmic systems much more distant away. 

"We're eager to continue to explore this mysterious galaxy," said Salzer. "Low-metal-abundance galaxies are extremely rare, so we want to learn everything we can."