For the first time ever, astronomers have identified molecular oxygen in a galaxy outside the Milky Way, Markarian 231, which contains 100 times as much oxygen as our own galaxy.

Astronomers have discovered molecular oxygen, which is the same gas humans need to breathe, in a galaxy outside the Milky Way. Observations using the IRAM 30 meter telescope and the NOEMA Interferometer have unveiled the presence of molecular oxygen in Markarian 231—the nearest known quasar. Molecular oxygen has been detected outside our galaxy for the first time ever in Markarian 231, a quasar-powered galaxy 600 light years away. In a research published in The Astrophysical Journal, they noted that it was discovered in the Markarian 231 galaxy, 561 million light-years from Earth. Let’s go! This image is part of a large collection of 59 images of merging galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released on the occasion of its 18th anniversary on 24 April 2008. Astronomers finally found molecular oxygen beyond the Milky Way, but they had to look at a galaxy far, far away: the quasar Markarian 231, shown here in an image from the Hubble Space Telescope. Markarian 231, or UGC 08058, is located about 600 million light-years away from Earth. For the first time in history, scientists have found breathable oxygen outside of the Milky Way.