More Water Found Than 140 Trillion Earth Oceans

The quasar is one of the most powerful entities in the universe, with this particular one pumping out 1,000 trillion times more energy than our sun, and 65,000 times the whole of the Milky Way.

The quasar where the gigantic water reservoir is located is some 12 billion years old, only 1.6 billion years younger than the Big Bang. It is older than the formation most of the stars in the disk of the Milky Way galaxy.

Because of the sheer distance from Earth, light from the event takes so long to reach researchers instruments that the data actually represents a snapshot into the past. It gives researchers a glimpse not only of interstellar phenomenon, but also the beginnings of the universe.

"These findings are very exciting," said Jason Glenn, a study co-author, and a University of Colorado Boulder associate professor, in a statement.

The discovery was part of a larger study of the quasar named APM 08279+5255, where the black hole is 20 billion times greater than the sun. There researched found water vapor around the black hole extending hundreds of light-years in size.

Astronomers expected water vapor to be present even in the early, distant universe, but had not detected it this far away before.

There's water vapor in the Milky Way, although the total amount is 4,000 times less than in the quasar, because most of the Milky Way's water is frozen in ice.

"The environment around this quasar is very unique in that it's producing this huge mass of water. It's another demonstration that water is pervasive throughout the universe, even at the very earliest times.," said NASA scientist Matt Bradford.

Research on the discovery is slated to be published in a coming issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.