Chemicals key to life spread across universe

Tokyo: Elements important to life on Earth are evenly distributed across the bulk of the universe, says a new study.

In a survey of hot, X-ray-emitting gas in the Virgo galaxy cluster, the researchers found that the common chemicals needed to make stars, planets and people were evenly distributed across millions of light-years early in cosmic history.

The Virgo cluster, located about 54 million light-years away, is the nearest galaxy cluster and the second brightest in X-rays. The cluster is home to more than 2,000 galaxies, and the space between them is filled with a diffuse gas so hot it glows in X-rays.

Using Japan's Suzaku X-ray satellite, a team led by Aurora Simionescu, astrophysicist at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Sagamihara, acquired observations of the cluster along four arms extending up to five million light-years from its centre.

The study showed that the chemical elements in the cosmos are well mixed, showing little variation on the largest scales.

The same recipe thought to be responsible for the solar system's makeup was at work throughout the universe.