Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery, identifying a colossal water reservoir orbiting a quasar over 12 billion light-years away, offering a rare window into the early universe. This immense reservoir contains an estimated 140 trillion times the volume of Earth’s oceans, and it’s located near a supermassive black hole roughly 20 billion times heavier than our Sun.
The quasar, named APM 08279+5255, emits energy equivalent to the output of a thousand trillion suns, providing a glimpse of the cosmos shortly after the Big Bang. The discovery is significant because it suggests that water has existed since the universe’s earliest moments.
NASA scientist Matt Bradford, part of the research team, emphasized the importance of the find, stating that the quasar’s environment is generating an extraordinary amount of water, challenging our understanding of the early universe. The team’s analysis focused on the quasar and its central black hole, where intense heat from the black hole’s consumption of gas and dust made it possible to detect water molecules from such extreme distances for the first time.
Quasars, which have been known for over 50 years, are some of the brightest and most energetic phenomena in the universe, powered by supermassive black holes at their centers. They outshine all nearby stars, emitting energy across every wavelength. Studying quasars allows scientists to probe the conditions of the early universe, the distribution of cosmic matter, and the processes that form galaxies.
In addition to the water vapor surrounding APM 08279+5255, scientists have detected other molecules, including carbon monoxide, hinting at material that could fuel the black hole and potentially trigger new star formation. While the gas surrounding the quasar is much less dense than Earth’s atmosphere, it’s five times hotter and hundreds of times denser than the typical gas found between galaxies.
This discovery not only offers fresh insight into the conditions of the early universe but also highlights that the fundamental ingredients for life—such as water—were present far earlier than previously believed. Water plays a crucial role in the evolution of stars and galaxies, aiding in the cooling of gas clouds that eventually collapse to form stars. By uncovering this massive water reservoir, scientists are expanding our understanding of how galaxies evolve and the potential for life’s building blocks to exist in far-off corners of the cosmos.
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