Astronomer finds universe has more gas Star stuff The lights in
the universe are likely to last a little longer, after a new
study shows there's more hydrogen inside galaxies than
previously thought. Hydrogen is the basic ingredient from which
stars are made, formed after the big bang 13.7 billion years
ago. It is still the most common element in the universe, making
up about 80 per cent of all matter. According to Braun, the
amount of hydrogen on the outskirts of galaxies has dramatically
decreased over the past 12 billion years, but the amount of
hydrogen around the bulge nearer the galactic centre has
remained about the same. "It shows that galactic formation and
evolution isn't static but an ongoing process," he says. Braun
reached his conclusions by analysing radio telescope
observations carried out in Australia, the United States and the
Netherlands. He examined radio emissions from hydrogen in three
nearby galaxies; Andromeda, the Large Magellanic Cloud and the
Triangulum Galaxy. "I looked at these in