Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
Astronomers discovered an enormous water reservoir encircling a black hole, containing 140 trillion times the water on Earth—shattering assumptions about cosmic conditions.
Located near the quasar APM 08279+5255, this water vapour forms part of a hot, gaseous cloud stretching across hundreds of light-years, interacting with intense gravitational forces.
This discovery reveals conditions when the universe was just 1.6 billion years old, offering insights into the evolution of galaxies and the role of water in their formation.
The quasar emits energy equivalent to a thousand trillion suns, powered by a black hole 20 billion times more massive than our Sun, as detailed by The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Unlike Earth’s oceans, this water is vapour, interacting with the quasar’s heat and energy, challenging ideas about water’s survival in such hostile environments.
Water vapour near quasars hints at its role in cooling molecular clouds, which give rise to stars and planets, showing water’s importance in the cosmos.
Despite assumptions, astronomers found water vapour 4,000 times more abundant near the quasar than in our Milky Way, reshaping the search for habitable planets.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory estimates the gas around the black hole could feed it to six times its size—or condense into stars, leaving the future of this gas cloud uncertain.
This finding underscores the resilience of water, existing even in extreme heat and energy zones, pushing humanity’s understanding of where life-sustaining elements may thrive.