Astronomers discover cosmic water source 140 trillion times larger than Earth’s oceans combined

Astronomers have uncovered the largest and most distant water reservoir ever detected in the universe. This staggering collection of water—equal to 140 trillion times the volume of Earth's oceans—envelops a quasar more than 12 billion light-years away.

Quasars are brilliant, energetic objects powered by supermassive black holes that devour nearby gas and dust. In this case, the quasar APM 08279+5255 hosts a black hole with a mass 20 billion times that of the sun. Its energy output matches that of a thousand trillion suns, creating an extreme environment where water vapor thrives.

"The environment around this quasar is very unique in that it's producing this huge mass of water," said Matt Bradford of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "It's another demonstration that water is pervasive throughout the universe, even at the very earliest times."

Bradford leads one of the teams responsible for this discovery, which is detailed in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Astronomers expected to find water vapor in deep space but never at such a vast distance. The Milky Way does contain water vapor, yet in amounts 4,000 times smaller than what surrounds this quasar. Most of our galaxy's water remains locked in ice, making the sheer scale of this discovery even more remarkable.

Water vapor plays a crucial role in understanding the conditions around a quasar. In APM 08279+5255, it stretches across a gaseous region spanning hundreds of light-years. The quasar floods this gas with intense infrared radiation and X-rays, heating it to unusual levels and making it far denser than typical interstellar environments.

Even at minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit, the gas remains significantly warmer than expected—five times hotter than what is typically found in galaxies. It is also 10 to 100 times denser, revealing how the quasar's extreme radiation shapes its surroundings.

The presence of water vapor, along with carbon monoxide, offers deeper insight into the quasar’s future. The available gas could sustain the black hole’s growth until it becomes six times larger. However, its fate remains uncertain. It may collapse into new stars or be blasted into space by the quasar’s energy.

Bradford's team began their observations in 2008 using "Z-Spec" at the California Institute of Technology's Submillimeter Observatory, a 33-foot telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Follow-up observations were conducted with the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA) in Southern California's Inyo Mountains.

The second team, led by Dariusz Lis of Caltech, used the Plateau de Bure Interferometer in the French Alps. In 2010, Lis's group accidentally detected water in APM 8279+5255. Bradford's team provided further details about the water's massive quantity by detecting multiple spectral signatures.

Contributing authors to Bradford's paper, "The water vapor spectrum of APM 08279+5255," include Hien Nguyen, Jamie Bock, Jonas Zmuidzinas, and Bret Naylor of JPL; Alberto Bolatto from the University of Maryland; Phillip Maloney, Jason Glenn, and Julia Kamenetzky of the University of Colorado; James Aguirre, Roxana Lupu, and Kimberly Scott from the University of Pennsylvania; Hideo Matsuhara of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science in Japan; and Eric Murphy of the Carnegie Institute of Science.

Interstellar Clouds (Molecular Clouds): These are vast regions of gas and dust in space where stars are born. Water exists in the form of ice on dust grains and as water vapor within these clouds.

One well-known interstellar cloud where scientists have found water is the Orion Nebula (Messier 42 or M42). The Orion Nebula is a massive star-forming region located about 1,344 light-years away from Earth.

Observations using various telescopes, including the Herschel Space Observatory, have detected water in the form of both ice and vapor within this nebula.

The Herschel Space Observatory, in particular, has identified water vapor in the warm gas surrounding newly formed stars in the Orion Nebula, providing insights into the processes that lead to the formation of water in interstellar space.

Protoplanetary Disks: These are disks of gas and dust that surround young stars and eventually form planets. Water ice is commonly found in these disks and can be incorporated into forming planets and other celestial bodies.

One notable protoplanetary disk where scientists have found water is around the young star PDS 70. This star system, located about 370 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Centaurus, has been extensively studied due to its two forming planets and the presence of water in its protoplanetary disk.

Observations made using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) detected water vapor within the disk, providing crucial insights into the processes of planet formation and the distribution of water in young planetary systems.

Comets: These icy bodies originate from the outer regions of planetary systems, such as the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud in our solar system. Comets are rich in water ice, which sublimates (turns into gas) when they approach the Sun, creating their characteristic tails.

Scientists have found water on several comets, with one of the most notable examples being Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission, which included the Philae lander, made significant discoveries about the composition of this comet, including the presence of water.

The Rosetta spacecraft detected water vapor being released from the comet's nucleus as it approached the Sun. The mission provided detailed measurements of the water content and other volatile substances on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, enhancing our understanding of the role comets play in delivering water to planetary bodies.

Another example is Comet Hartley 2 (103P/Hartley). Observations by NASA's EPOXI mission revealed that the water in this comet has a similar isotopic composition to Earth's oceans, suggesting that comets like Hartley 2 could have contributed to the delivery of water to Earth.

Asteroids: Some asteroids, particularly those in the outer regions of the asteroid belt, contain significant amounts of water in the form of hydrated minerals or ice.

One of the asteroids where scientists have found water is Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

NASA's Dawn mission, which orbited Ceres from 2015 to 2018, detected water vapor on Ceres. The spacecraft found that the surface of Ceres has a significant amount of water ice and identified evidence of a subsurface ocean, making it a key object of interest in the study of water in the solar system .

Planetary Atmospheres and Surfaces: Planets and moons, especially those in the habitable zones around their stars, can have substantial amounts of water. Earth is a prime example, with abundant liquid water on its surface. Other bodies, like Europa (a moon of Jupiter) and Enceladus (a moon of Saturn), have subsurface oceans beneath their icy crusts.

Exoplanets: Water has been detected in the atmospheres of some exoplanets (planets outside our solar system). These detections are often made using spectroscopy, which can identify water vapor by its unique absorption lines in the light spectrum.

One notable exoplanet where scientists have found water is K2-18b. Located about 124 light-years away in the constellation Leo, K2-18b is a super-Earth that orbits within the habitable zone of its star. In 2019, scientists detected water vapor in the atmosphere of K2-18b using data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

This discovery marked the first time water had been identified in the atmosphere of an exoplanet within the habitable zone, where conditions might be right for liquid water to exist on the surface .

Water in the universe is primarily formed through chemical reactions between hydrogen and oxygen, the two most abundant elements. In the cold environments of space, these reactions can lead to the formation of water ice on dust grains, which then coalesce to form larger bodies containing water.

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