uniladtech homepage
  • News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Archive
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
Incredible 12,000,000,000 year old body of water discovered floating in space

Home> Science> Space

Published 01:00 16 Nov 2024 GMT

Incredible 12,000,000,000 year old body of water discovered floating in space

The discovery is located over 12 billion light-years away

Harry Boulton

Harry Boulton

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover
Featured Image Credit: NASA/ESA / Pixabay
Space
Nasa

Advert

Advert

Advert

Space is vast in its scope, with trillions of stars and billions of galaxies in the observable universe, but one of things you'd least expect to find in the endless expanse is a pool of water.

While some are still stuck thinking that the earth is flat, and budget cuts have prevented NASA from sending another astronaut to the moon, astronomers have been making some incredibly fascinating discoveries in space.

Water is, of course, a natural occurrence for us, forming around 71% of the Earth's surface - but it's existence in outer space is far rarer to find, especially in it's 'natural' form.

Lack of air - and subsequent removal of air pressure - means that liquid typically vaporizes and boils away, leaving most forms of to be gaseous or frozen as ice.

Advert

However, astronomers discovered in 2011 a water reservoir that is the largest ever detected in the universe - the catch is that it's located over 12 billion light-years away.

This is an artist's concept illustration of a quasar (NASA/ESA)
This is an artist's concept illustration of a quasar (NASA/ESA)

Surrounding a rare and extreme form of supermassive black hole named a quasar, this pool is approximately seventy sextillion five hundred sixty quintillion miles away, as one light-year is around 5.88 trillion miles - don't worry we have no idea how to comprehend that number either!

According to information provided by the astronomy team, which is led by Matt Bradford of JPL at NASA, the discovered pool is equivalent to 140 trillion times all of the water in the Earth's ocean.

It was expected that we'd be able to find and detect water vapor in the early and distant universe, but this is the furthest away that traces have been found, totaling over 4,000 times more than what has previously been found in the Milky Way.

This is due to the fact that water found in the Milky Way takes the form of ice, whereas the vaporous form surrounding the quasar allows it to command a much greater space.

This then reflects the state of the quasar in question, which has been officially named APM 08279+5255 - not quite as catchy as some other intergalactic monikers!

APM 08279+5255 is located over 12 billion light-years away (ManyWorldsAstro/Reddit)
APM 08279+5255 is located over 12 billion light-years away (ManyWorldsAstro/Reddit)

Astrologers have revealed that the sheer size of this water mass indicates that the quasar is bathing it in X-rays and infrared radiation, while also providing a warm and dense environment that is rather unusual in space.

Observations have also determined that the water surrounding the quasar developed when the universe was just 1.6 billion years old, and with estimates that it's around its 14 billionth birthday, it's safe to assume that this reservoir has been here for quite a while.

Bradford has argued that this discovery is "another demonstration that water is pervasive throughout the universe, even at the very earliest times."

While water 'that could harbor life' has seen been discovered beneath the surface of Mars, you do have to wonder how much we've yet to unveil about the wider universe - especially when it comes to aspects like water deposits.

Choose your content:

2 days ago
  • NASA/Getty Images
    2 days ago

    NASA paid $26.6M to families after seven astronauts died just 16 minutes from Earth after history-making mission

    The problem with the spacecraft was initially very small

    Science
  • Anna Moneymaker / Staff / Getty
    2 days ago

    Sam Altman has signed up to procedure that is '100% lethal' but will preserve his brain forever

    One step closer to making billionaires immortal

    Science
  • Bill Ingalls/NASA/Getty Images
    2 days ago

    How much Artemis 2 astronauts will get paid after making history with lunar mission

    Many wonder how well they'll be compensated for the history-making trip

    Science
  • Getty Stock
    2 days ago

    Scientists discover 'world's oldest octopus' is actually something else entirely

    Researchers unveiled 'hidden anatomical characteristics'

    Science
  • Exactly when Artemis 2 astronauts will be left floating in space with no contact to Earth
  • Artemis 2 crew become first humans in history to see the Moon's 3.8B-year-old 'scar'
  • Artemis 2 astronauts set incredible record as they travel deeper into space than any human ever has
  • 70-year-old NASA astronaut reveals bizarre and unexpected side effect on his body while being in space