A groundbreaking discovery was made in deep space research: A huge water mass was detected around a supermassive black hole at the center of the quasar named APM 08279+5255, 12 billion light years away.
This enormous mass of water is equal to 140 trillion times the total volume of all oceans on Earth! It is also stated that this water around the black hole is large enough to fill 4 billion Solar Systems. So what does this surprising discovery mean?
In space exploration, the presence of water is considered one of the most critical clues in the search for living life. Therefore, such a discovery caused a great stir in the scientific world. However, the presence of water around a black hole cannot be considered as direct evidence of the existence of life.
Giant Water Reserve Located at the Center of the Quasar
This discovered water reserve is located at the center of a quasar 12 billion light years away. quasarsare extremely bright objects located at the centers of galaxies and receiving energy from supermassive black holes. This huge body of water has a size equal to 140 trillion times the total volume of Earth’s oceans.
The study was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, and scientists began to develop various theories to understand the source of this incredibly large body of water in more detail.
Quasars: The Shining Hearts of Space
Quasars were first discovered through telescopes more than half a century ago. These objects are quite different from ordinary stars; They attract attention with their intense brightness coming from the centers of galaxies.
The reason why quasars are so bright is the supermassive black holes at their centers. Gas and dust accumulated around these black holes move in a spiral direction towards the black hole. In this process, the gas and dust heat up, releasing large amounts of energy and creating the brightness of quasars.
Comparison with the Milky Way: A Huge Ocean
If we make a comparison to understand the size of this discovered water mass, we can say that the Milky Way Galaxy is approximately 52 thousand light years in diameter. This giant water reserve has the capacity to form an ocean 1% the size of the Milky Way. This represents one of the largest bodies of water imaginable inside a galaxy.
A Black Hole 20 Billion Times Bigger than the Sun
The black hole where water was discovered is classified as a supermassive black hole and has approximately 20 billion times the mass of the Sun. The presence of such a large body of water around such a massive black hole offers new opportunities for scientists to learn more about such structures.
However, it does not currently seem possible to associate this discovery with living life. Researchers continue their work to understand the formation of this water and other physical processes around the black hole.
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