Scientists have discovered the oldest and largest reservoir of water in the Universe

Water - the first sign of the possibility of the existence of life. It is possible the presence of liquid water on the surface of extrasolar planets fall into the category of "liveable". But it is on the planet. But water can exist in space.

At a distance of about 12 billion light-years from Earth учёные We found a quasar APM 08279 + 5255, which proved to be a supermassive black hole, surrounded by the largest reserve of water discovered by astronomers. Water in the formation of some 140 trillion times larger than our planet - about 20,000 of the world's oceans for every person on Earth.

The discovery was made using the спектрографа Z-Spec , operating at millimeter wavelengths in the submillimeter observatory Caltech - 10-meter telescope located in Hawaii.

Hydrogen in space there almost since the formation of the universe, and oxygen occurs in stars in the process of nucleosynthesis. Energy supermassive black hole colliding atoms of hydrogen and oxygen, thus producing water. This water exists as a pair of extremely rarefied.

This discovery is yet another proof of the existence of huge reserves of water in the universe, not only on the planets. These water reserves were at the dawn of existence - the age found education is estimated at 1, 6 billion. Years.

More recently, scientists have found compelling evidence of liquid water on Mars . In general, the first time the presence of water somewhere other than planet Earth has been proven most recently in 1969.

Source: geektimes.ru/post/263530/