Mar 20, Kathmandu - Scientists have discovered a huge cloud filled with water in space. The gaseous object, or cosmic cloud, is said to be about 12 billion light-years away from Earth.

Interestingly, the amount of water in the gaseous cloud is estimated to be about 14 billion times more than the total amount of water in all the oceans on Earth. The water is not in liquid form there, but in the form of water vapor in a very hot state.

Astronomers discovered the water cloud while investigating a powerful space object called quasar APM 08279+5255. A quasar is a very energetic celestial object, at the center of which there is a supermassive black hole. According to scientists, the black hole at the center of the quasar is about 20 billion times more massive than the sun.

This discovery was first made by scientists at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory using radio telescopes. They confirmed the presence of water in the area using instruments such as the Z-Spec.

A glimpse into the early universe

This water cloud is believed to have formed in the early universe. At that time, galaxies were in the process of developing and black holes were rapidly attracting gas around them. This state is also called an active galactic nucleus by scientists.

The extremely hot gaseous region around the black hole appears to have produced large quantities of water molecules. This provides evidence that complex chemical processes were active in the universe from the very beginning.

A new debate on the possibility of life

Water is considered the basis of life. Therefore, the presence of such a large amount of water in such an early stage of the universe is surprising to scientists. This raises an important question: was the origin of life possible much earlier than we thought?

The discovery also shows that the necessary elements for life, such as water, may be spread throughout the universe and not just limited to our solar system. It is believed that this will further strengthen research to search for the possibility of life on other planets or celestial systems in the future.

According to scientists, this type of study helps to understand the chemical evolution of the universe.