The largest water reservoir ever observed in space: a groundbreaking discovery

Astronomers have identified an immense reservoir of water around the quasar APM 08279+5255, 12 billion light years from us: the discovery helps to better understand the evolution of supermassive black holes in the primordial phases of the universe

In a far corner of the universe, astronomers have made an extraordinary discovery: the biggest water reservoir in space. The vast store of water—100 trillion times greater than all of the Earth’s oceans combined—exists about 12 billion light-years away, around a quasar that is actively spewing out radiation, APM 08279+5255.

APM 08279+5255 is no ordinary quasar. It has at its core a supermassive black hole with a mass of 20 billion suns, making it one of the most massive objects in the observable universe. The quasar itself releases an enormous amount of energy, the equivalent of 1 trillion suns, fueling the gigantic cloud of gas and dust that envelops it.

What is unexpected about this discovery is that so much water vapor is present around the quasar. To put it in perspective, there is 4,000 times less water in the form of vaporized water in the Milky Way, and it’s primarily ice. The presence of a giant water reservoir around the quasar means that gas in the quasar vicinity is being heated to such extreme temperatures that it emits X-rays and infrared radiation. This effect condenses the gas incredibly and warms it up, to conditions found differently in any galaxies in more proximate ones.

Water in quasars: a key to understanding black hole evolution

The presence of water vapor near the far-away quasar is not just a cosmological peculiarity but a valuable clue toward the determination of the early environment of quasars and the growth of supermassive black holes. Though water is an insignificant molecule in astronomy, the investigation into it yields interesting thermodynamic properties such as the temperature and pressure of the gas.

In the quasar APM 08279+5255, the gas that surrounds the quasar is -63 degrees Fahrenheit. Although that sounds cold, it is considerably hotter and more dense than is seen in the Milky Way. This quasar is a redshift of z=3.9, and that means that it existed in a time when the universe was just 1.6 billion years old. It is by researching this water-dominated area that researchers are able to comprehend better the formation of black holes in the early universe.

The black hole at the center of the quasar could grow to six times its present mass with so much gas available, according to the scientists. But no one knows if all this matter would be devoured by the black hole, or if some of it would give rise to new stars or be ejected from the host galaxy.

Leading-edge technology renders the discovery possible

This stunning discovery was made possible by developments in submillimeter and millimeter radio astronomy. The first discovery of water vapor in the APM 08279+5255 quasar was “caught” by the Z-Spec spectrograph at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory on Hawaii. Confirmation through follow-up observations using the Plateau de Bure Interferometer and the CARMA (Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy) came not only of the detection but also of its enormous quantity.

These cutting-edge technologies have allowed scientists to explore the ancient cosmos with unprecedented precision. Next-generation instruments, like the CCAT Telescope, could open further secrets of galaxy formation and expansion in the universe, leaving more hints of how our universe has developed in its first billion years.

A finding that redefines our portrait of the ancient universe

Discovery of the biggest and farthest water reservoir ever observed is a milestone achievement in astronomy nowadays. The APM 08279+5255 quasar, which is fueled by an ultra-massive black hole and has the monolithic cloud of water vapor, shows how fruitful and colorful the early universe was.

Owing to advances in technology, scientists are closer to finding answers to basic questions regarding the beginning of the universe and the development of black holes. How many more secrets lie in the universe’s depths waiting to be unearthed? Only time and continued space exploration will tell.

Source: NASA