For first time, element found in bones, teeth detected in galaxy 12 billion light years away

For the first time, astronomers have detected fluorine—which is found in human’s bones and teeth as fluoride—in a galaxy that is more than 12 billion light-years away.

A team of astronomers made the discovery using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array telescope (ALMA) in Chile.

“We all know about fluorine because the toothpaste we use every day contains it in the form of fluoride,” said Maximilien Franco from the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, who led the new study, published on Thursday in Nature Astronomy.

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“Like most elements around us, fluorine is created inside stars but, until now, we did not know exactly how this element was produced. We did not even know which type of stars produced the majority of fluorine in the Universe!” he said in a statement.

Franco and his collaborators spotted fluorine (in the form of hydrogen fluoride) in the large clouds of gas of the distant galaxy NGP–190387.

Since stars expel the elements, they form in their cores as they reach the end of their lives, this detection implies that the stars that created fluorine must have lived and died quickly.

The team believes that Wolf–Rayet stars, very massive stars that live only a few million years, are the most likely production sites of fluorine.

They are needed to explain the amounts of hydrogen fluoride the team spotted, the astronomers say.

Wolf–Rayet stars had been suggested as possible sources of cosmic fluorine before, but astronomers did not know until now how important they were in producing this element in the early Universe.

“We have shown that Wolf–Rayet stars, which are among the most massive stars known and can explode violently as they reach the end of their lives, help us, in a way, to maintain good dental health!” Franco said.

(With inputs from agencies)