Farthest Signs Of Water Detected In Galaxy 12.8 Billion Light Years Away

The farthest signs of water have been detected in a galaxy situated 12.8 billion light years away from Earth. According to astronomers, this is the most distant sign of water ever found.

Water molecules were found in SPT0311-58, a gigantic galaxy from 780 million years ago, when the universe was still rather young.

With help from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, researchers from the University of Illinois discovered water molecules made out of hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

According to scientists, this suggests that molecular changes in the universe began from the beginning - going from helium and hydrogen to complex combinations.

Reuters

What does this research suggest?

Essentially, the first stars were created and died about 800 million years ago, when their remaining molecules were spread across the universe. Extremely heavy elements, heavier even than helium and hydrogen fuse in the core of a star when its life-cycle comes to an end. This is what happened to most stars in that period too.

ALMA (ESO/NAO/NRAO)

The process created not only planets nearby, but our solar system and all that exists within it. The detection of water molecules so far into the past suggests that the universe is continuously changing. The are heavy on water molecules is made up of two galaxies and was first detected in 2017 using ALMA.

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It represents the time in the universe known as the Epoch of Reionization, when the universe was merely five per cent of its current age. This is when the first galaxies and stars in the universe were being formed.

ALMA (ESO/NAO/NRAO)

With help from ALMA scientists found water and carbon dioxide in the larger galaxy of the two. Such vital information could help scientists understand processes that create galaxies, destroy them, and the molecules present in the process.

Also read: First Ever Planet Outside Our Galaxy Spotted At 28 Million Light Years Away

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