The water cloud contains enough water to fill Earth’s oceans 140 trillion times.
Key Takeaways
- A supermassive black hole 12 billion light-years away contains the largest water cloud yet seen.
- This water cloud has a mass 40 billion times that of Earth, surrounding a quasar.
- The quasar emits intense energy, heating surrounding gases, which produces this massive water vapor cloud.
- This cosmic water reservoir formed when the universe was only 1.6 billion years old.
- The discovery shows how quickly water and molecular structures appeared in the young universe, influencing galaxy evolution.
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In an extraordinary discovery, astronomers found the universe’s most massive known water cloud 12 billion light-years away, surrounding a supermassive black hole in a quasar. This quasar, one of the brightest and most powerful objects in the universe, has an astonishingly dense water vapor cloud weighing 40 billion times the mass of Earth. The discovery sheds new light on water’s role in the early universe, suggesting that water molecules were forming at a rapid pace when the universe was just 1.6 billion years old.
The Giant Water Cloud Around a Distant Black Hole
Quasars, like the one where this water cloud was found, are found at the center of galaxies. They’re powered by supermassive black holes that consume nearby material and emit intense energy, including x-rays and infrared radiation. This radiation heats the surrounding gases, resulting in massive quantities of water vapor. According to Eric Murphy, an astronomer with the Carnegie Observatories and a co-author of the study, the cloud holds an astounding amount of water—enough to fill Earth’s oceans 140 trillion times over.
The astronomers used a spectrograph mounted on the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory in Hawaii to observe this distant quasar. By studying the light from the quasar, they could analyze the properties of the water and other gases around it. The cloud’s temperature is warmer than typical cosmic environments, hinting at a complex interplay of gases and energy around the black hole. Along with the water, the region holds enough gas and dust to feed the black hole for billions of years, potentially allowing it to grow up to six times its current size, or reach a mass of 120 billion times that of our sun.
Water in the Young Universe
This colossal water reservoir indicates that molecules formed quickly after the Big Bang, showing that chemical enrichment happened much earlier than previously thought. Murphy explained that finding water at this early stage of the universe demonstrates its pervasiveness across the cosmos. This discovery also has implications for galaxy evolution. Astronomers theorize that in the young universe, large volumes of water might have helped cool the interstellar medium, affecting star formation and shaping galaxies like the Milky Way.
The discovery represents a major breakthrough in our understanding of cosmic water, suggesting that molecules crucial for life were already forming rapidly when the universe was still young. Astronomers plan to continue studying this quasar and other distant objects to learn more about the early universe and the role water played in its evolution.
The paper describing the watery quasar has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
