In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have identified the largest and most distant reservoir of water ever detected in the known universe, reported Unilad. Two teams of astronomers made the remarkable find, revealing a colossal body of water that surpasses the combined volume of all water on Earth by 140 trillion times.
Situated around a colossal feeding black hole known as a quasar, this expansive cosmic water source is located more than 12 billion light-years away, providing a unique insight into the universe’s early stages when it was just 1.6 billion years old.
Matt Bradford, a scientist at NASA‘s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, emphasized the significance of this revelation, highlighting its implications for understanding the prevalence of water in the cosmos. “It’s another demonstration that water is pervasive throughout the universe, even at the very earliest times,” said Bradford.
The quasar at the center of this discovery, named APM 08279+5255, harbors a supermassive black hole 20 billion times more massive than the sun, emitting energy equivalent to a thousand trillion suns. The teams of astronomers, including Bradford’s, studied this celestial object and detected several spectral signatures of the immense water mass.
Prior to this revelation, water vapor had not been observed in the early universe, making this discovery a milestone in astronomical understanding. While water is found elsewhere in the Milky Way, it is mostly frozen in ice.
In their pursuit of unraveling the mysteries of the distant universe, astronomers proposed the construction of a 25-meter telescope in the Atacama Desert in Chile, initially named Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope (CCAT) but later renamed Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) in 2020. Unfortunately, due to insufficient funding, the ambitious telescope project has been temporarily halted, despite decades of support from Cornell alumnus Fred Young, who contributed $16 million.
Astronomers aim to use advanced telescopic technology to delve deeper into the universe’s past and unlock further secrets about its formation and composition. The postponement of the FYST telescope underscores the challenges faced in advancing astronomical research amid financial constraints.
Situated around a colossal feeding black hole known as a quasar, this expansive cosmic water source is located more than 12 billion light-years away, providing a unique insight into the universe’s early stages when it was just 1.6 billion years old.
Matt Bradford, a scientist at NASA‘s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, emphasized the significance of this revelation, highlighting its implications for understanding the prevalence of water in the cosmos. “It’s another demonstration that water is pervasive throughout the universe, even at the very earliest times,” said Bradford.
The quasar at the center of this discovery, named APM 08279+5255, harbors a supermassive black hole 20 billion times more massive than the sun, emitting energy equivalent to a thousand trillion suns. The teams of astronomers, including Bradford’s, studied this celestial object and detected several spectral signatures of the immense water mass.
Prior to this revelation, water vapor had not been observed in the early universe, making this discovery a milestone in astronomical understanding. While water is found elsewhere in the Milky Way, it is mostly frozen in ice.
In their pursuit of unraveling the mysteries of the distant universe, astronomers proposed the construction of a 25-meter telescope in the Atacama Desert in Chile, initially named Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope (CCAT) but later renamed Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) in 2020. Unfortunately, due to insufficient funding, the ambitious telescope project has been temporarily halted, despite decades of support from Cornell alumnus Fred Young, who contributed $16 million.
Astronomers aim to use advanced telescopic technology to delve deeper into the universe’s past and unlock further secrets about its formation and composition. The postponement of the FYST telescope underscores the challenges faced in advancing astronomical research amid financial constraints.
