How does studying the distant universe potentially solve mysteries about our own origins?

NASA has begun designing a new mission to understand whether we are alone in the universe, called the Habitable Worlds Observatory. It is focusing on searching for life-like us, on Earth-like planets, around Sun-like stars, because this is the only example of life we have.

One key part of Earth-like planets is holding an atmosphere around a small, rocky planet. For Earth, our magnetic field has protected our atmosphere from the immense energy output by our Sun for billions of years. We have our magnetic field because the radioactive decay of Uranium and Thorium deep in Earth's core continues to heat it, allowing it to be molten. We know Mars used to have an atmosphere, but it eroded once its core cooled and froze. Further, we know life like us requires Iodine as it helps regulate our metabolism and body temperature.

Iodine, Uranium, and Thorium are among the heaviest elements known. We do not know when these elements first formed abundantly in the Universe. Its possible it was only recently, and thus we are among the first life in the universe. Alternatively, these elements may have been available for a long time.

We answer this question by looking deep into the past, which requires pointing our most powerful telescopes at distant galaxies, to understand what processes generate these heavy elements.