Produced by: Manoj Kumar
Just 200 million years post-Big Bang, water may have swirled in newborn galaxies, reshaping what we know about life’s cosmic clock, says a Nature Astronomy study.
Credit : ESO
Exploding supernovas — the universe’s first fireworks — may have fused oxygen and hydrogen into water, Daniel Whalen of University of Portsmouth reveals.
Representative pic
If water existed mere cosmic moments after creation, could alien life be billions of years older than Earth’s? Whalen’s team hints we may be late to the party.
Representative pic
Population III supernovas, titans of the early universe, may have birthed water in violent deaths, seeding galaxies with life’s essential ingredient.
Representative pic
Though scarce, early water lurked in dense gas clouds — the very places where stars and planets ignite — rewriting our origin story, say astrophysicists.
Representative pic
Oxygen from ancient star deaths mixed with hydrogen to form water, suggesting life’s recipe was cooking long before Earth, as Nature Astronomy suggests.
Representative pic
First galaxies might have formed in watery nurseries, offering a shocking new timeline for when life-friendly worlds could emerge, Whalen’s research proposes.
Representative pic
If water — and maybe life — began so early, the universe’s life-hosting potential may stretch back farther than we dared dream, says astrophysicist Whalen.
Representative pic
With water predating galaxies, could civilizations older than Earth already be out there? The James Webb Telescope may soon find clues, scientists hope.
Representative pic