The Largest Body of Water in the Universe is Floating in Space. Can We Use It?

The Largest Body of Water in the Universe is Floating in Space

All life comes from and is dependent upon water. When looking for hints of life in other worlds, the first thing scientists look for is water. Our Earth holds a staggering amount of it. Over a billion cubic kilometers of it are sloshing around in our oceans, lakes, and rivers.

Yet, that’s a mere drop in the bucket compared to the largest body of water in the universe. This recently discovered ocean is about 140 trillion times the size of all of Earth’s oceans combined!

That’s pretty mind-blowing.

There’s only one place an ocean that huge could be. It’s floating around in distant space.

It’s hard to imagine this much water existing out there in the universe, but that’s exactly where water originates from. The collapse of a star is actually what created the largest body of water in the universe.

Where Does Water Come From?

Water molecules consist of one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms. Both of these substances are found in abundance in space. Scientists tell us that the Big Bang created hydrogen. Oxygen also exists in the cores of massive stars.

Stars like our sun create gasses through massive nuclear events in their cores. When a smaller star collapses, it releases the gas it’s been creating. The gasses form a cloud called a nebula.

The Hubble telescope has detected water molecules within these nebulae. One nebula, called Orion, produces enough water every day to fill Earth’s oceans 60 times over!

Water exists on most of the planets in our solar system. It’s also in many moons, including Earth’s, as well as comets and asteroids. Even the rings of Saturn have a supply of water.

How Does a Star Form Water?

Water develops from the life cycle of a star. Stars come in all sizes, and bigger stars will have a much different life cycle than smaller ones.

A Star is Born

All stars begin life as a giant ball of dust and gas called a nebula.

But aren’t nebulas formed from dying stars?

When stars die, they pour out their contents throughout the galaxy and this paves the way for newer stars.

As the nebula spins faster, it gets hotter and brighter. When it reaches a certain temperature, scientists consider it a full-grown star. 

A Collapse of a Star Created the Largest Body of Water in the Universe

When a star depletes its supply of hydrogen, it expands and turns red as it cools down. This is called a red giant.

What happens after that is a direct result of the size of the star. 

• Small Stars: When a smaller star dies, the core collapses and expels all of the star’s gasses. The small white core that remains is called a white dwarf. When it cools down, it becomes a black dwarf.
• Large Stars: A larger star will undergo a massive explosion called a supernova. If what’s left is 1.4 to 3 times the size of our sun, it will become a neutron star, which is just the burnt-out core of the star. Here’s a fun fact: Gold is the result of neutron stars colliding!
• Massive Stars: When the star is more than 3 times the mass of our sun, the core of the star is swallowed by its own gravity, becoming a black hole.

The biggest body of water in the universe was found around a specific kind of black hole known as a quasar.

What is a Quasar?

Although scientists still have a lot to understand about quasars, it’s generally agreed that a quasar is a giant black hole located in the center of a galaxy.

The black hole slowly sucks in everything that gets too close to it. Vast amounts of matter swirl around it like water going down a bathtub drain. This large, swirling mass is called an accretion disk.

There are a lot of quasars being identified by scientists. The largest body of water in the universe comes from a quasar water reservoir known as APM 08279+5255.

How Did Scientists Find the Quasar Water Reservoir?

Scientists have used powerful telescopes to examine the water reservoir of quasar APM 08279+5255. By using spectroscopy, they have been successful in examining all the material that swirls around a quasar.

Spectroscopy is the study of light and matter when they interact. Every element in the Periodic Table of Elements has a unique composition. Each element produces a unique signature that is never duplicated by any other element. These signatures are called spectral lines. 

The spectral lines around quasar APM 08279+5255 show scientists the largest body of water found in the universe to date.

In the vacuum of space, water can’t exist as a liquid. Instead, the water molecules take on the form of a vapor like steam or fog. This is exactly what the biggest body of water in the universe looks like.

Where is the Quasar Water Reservoir?

The great distances between objects in space are staggering to the human mind.

Scientists measure space in light years. A light year is the distance light can travel in one Earth year. A single light year is about 9 trillion kilometers. That means light can travel 9 trillion kilometers in a single year.

This massive quasar water reservoir the scientists have been studying is 12 billion light years away. What scientists see through their telescopes are light images that were emitted from the quasar 12 billion years ago. So, scientists see what the quasar looked like then, not now.

In other words, they’re watching how the cosmos came into existence.

Through this discovery, scientists can see that water has been a huge part of the universe from the very beginning of time. It’s in those extremely long-ago times that the biggest body of water in the universe began to form.

How Did Earth Get Its Water?

Throughout Earth’s history, comets and asteroids have pummelled the face of the planet. About 180 craters exist around the world. These ancient asteroids and meteors brought water with them. They had collected it during their formation in the nebula of a star. This water may have been in the form of masses of ice. In Earth’s warmer atmosphere, it melted into liquid form and filled our ocean basins.

So, the next time you take a cool, refreshing sip, take a moment to realize that you are drinking the liquefied remains of an ancient star.

Water in Space for the Future

Artificial Intelligence is changing the face of space travel. And now, scientists are studying Organoid Intelligence (OI). OI aims to create a biological computer that can enhance AI. This can create breakthroughs for space travel in the future.

There is a very good reason to enhance intelligence that can help us look for water in space. In 2024, NASA will send a crew of astronauts on a trip to loop the moon for the first time since 1972. The plan is to land people on the moon by the end of that year.

The quasar water reservoir on APM 08279+5255 is fascinating. Unfortunately, the largest body of water in the universe is way too far away to ever be of use to us except as a subject of study.

However, In the not-so-distant future, astronauts will need to know how to find and use extra-terrestrial water sources. In years to come, there will be more extensive trips to Mars and other celestial bodies.

Collecting and studying lunar soil could help us gain an understanding of the composition of the water in space. This could allow us to determine the best ways to gather, process, and use it in space exploration.

It won’t be long before we’ve established moon colonies. When we do, we’ll have enough water for drinking, cleaning, and even growing vegetables.