Envision an ocean with 140 trillion times the amount of water in it as all the oceans on Earth combined. Imagine for a moment that this enormous reservoir existed 12 billion light-years from Earth instead of on our planet! This is not science fiction, but rather an actual astronomical finding that has recently aroused interest in the public once more.
A Decade-Old Find Revisited
This enormous quantity of water was discovered more than ten years ago and is currently the universe’s largest and furthest reservoir. Two devoted teams of astronomers worked together for three years to make the discovery.
2008 saw the start of observations by the first team, which was headed by Dr. Matt Bradford from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In Hawaii, they used a large telescope to study the universe in great detail. In California, radio dish arrays were utilized to do additional research on their preliminary findings. Meanwhile, a second team headed by Dr. Dariusz Lis of Caltech corroborated these results with the help of a specialized instrument in the French Alps.
A Quasar’s Embrace: Water in the Early Universe
This recently discovered ocean does not float freely in space. Rather, it envelops a massive black hole, called a quasar, which is astoundingly 12 billion light-years distant. Radiation from quasars, which are energetic celestial giants, is extremely high.
The discovery is important because it shows that water existed in the universe from the beginning—12 billion years ago indicates that the universe was considerably younger. Astronomers had never seen water vapor thus far back in time until this discovery. In our Milky Way galaxy, there is water, but it’s mostly frozen.
A Warm Oasis in the Cosmic Cold
The surrounding gas, including the water vapor, is covered in X-rays and infrared radiation due to the quasar’s strong radiation. Compared to ordinary interstellar space, the gas is particularly heated and thick because of its special environment.
Even though this gas is extremely cold—it is only minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit on Earth—it is shockingly heated for such a large amount of space. It is also denser than the majority of galaxies, yet still significantly less dense than the atmosphere of our planet.
A Glimpse into the Cosmos’ Beginnings
Astronomers are enthusiastic about the potential implications of this discovery. It offers valuable insights into the early universe’s composition and the distribution of water, a crucial ingredient for life as we know it.
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