CO detection in a high-redshift galaxy

The detection with the IRAM interferometer of dust and CO molecules in BR1202-0725, one of the most distant galaxies known up to now, shows that heavy elements existed already at an early time of the Universe. These elements must be formed by the very first generation of stars. At that distance, the recession velocity of the galaxy is close to the speed of light; thus, today's observations show the galaxy at an epoch when it was only about one billion years old, or one tenth of the estimated age of the present Universe.