Water in Space: 100 Trillion Times Earth's Oceans—Found 12 Billion Light Years Away!

New Delhi: Scientists have discovered a colossal water reservoir in space, containing as much water as 100 trillion times all the oceans on Earth combined. This enormous water body is located near the active quasar APM 08279+5255, approximately 12 billion light years away.

At the center of this quasar lies a supermassive black hole, one of the largest known objects in the universe. The black hole has a mass equivalent to 20 billion suns, while the energy emitted by the quasar is equivalent to the output of one trillion suns.

Water in Space

Scientists observed an immense concentration of water vapor in the region, extending across several hundred light-years, suggesting the presence of a substantial amount of water.

The discovery was made using advanced millimeter and submillimeter technology, allowing scientists to detect the vast water reservoir with precision and detail.

Experts at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory in Hawaii detected the water vapor in a quasar at redshift using the Z-Spec spectrograph. Subsequent observations were conducted with the Plateau de Bure Interferometer and CARMA.

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The discovery has left scientists astonished, especially when compared to our Milky Way galaxy, which contains only a fraction—about 4,000 times less—of the gaseous water. Furthermore, most of the water in the Milky Way exists in frozen form, making the concentration found in the quasar even more extraordinary.

Discovery of Water in Quasar

The massive amount of water in APM 08279+5455 suggests that the quasar's environment is capable of heating the surrounding gas to extreme temperatures, emitting intense X-rays and infrared radiation. This points to the extraordinary energy at play in such a powerful cosmic setting.

In addition, scientists believe that the supermassive black hole at the center of the quasar could grow to six times its current size, thanks to the large amount of gas in the region that could potentially fuel its growth.

However, there is also the possibility that some of the gas might not be absorbed by the black hole but instead contribute to the formation of new stars or be expelled from the host galaxy altogether.