A study of 37 nearby dwarf galaxies estimates that they retain between 4% and 25% of the oxygen their stars have produced, averaging approximately 11%. The results, reported by Rutgers University on November 2, 2026, indicate that these small galaxies have lost more oxygen than current simulations predict.
The Galaxies Losing Oxygen via Winds project, known as GLOW, compared estimated lifetime oxygen production with the oxygen remaining in stars, gas, and dust. Its sample consists of galaxies within approximately 22 million light-years of Earth.
Kristen Wingfield McQuinn leads the project, which receives support from NASA and the National Science Foundation. The research was published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Reconstructing the Stellar Record
The researchers used archival Hubble images to distinguish individual stars within each galaxy. Stellar brightness and color helped them reconstruct when stars formed and how the galaxies’ chemical composition changed.
That record provides a basis for estimating how much oxygen successive generations of stars produced. The team combined Hubble observations with measurements from the retired Spitzer Space Telescope, the Very Large Array, and the Australia Telescope Compact Array to assess production and retention.
The galaxies were selected partly because they are close enough for Hubble to resolve individual stars. Their masses also fall within the range where theory predicts increasing losses of material driven by stellar activity.
Why Oxygen Traces Galaxy Evolution
Oxygen is abundant, comparatively straightforward to measure, and produced through understood stellar processes. Those properties make it useful for following the movement of elements manufactured by stars.
The researchers interpret the low retained fractions as evidence for efficient removal by galactic winds. Energy supplied by massive stars and supernova explosions drives gas outward, carrying oxygen away from the galaxies’ main bodies.
The result connects stellar activity with the chemical evolution of a galaxy. Stars produce oxygen, and the energy they release also helps move that oxygen into surrounding space. By comparing estimated production with the observed inventory across 37 systems, GLOW measures how much of that stellar output remains available inside the galaxies.
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