Researchers have found the biggest water reservoir in the universe, but it's not on our planet. It is reportedly floating in space.
Biggest and Farthest Water Reservoir in the Universe
Two astronomy teams have found the largest and farthest water reservoir ever found in the universe. It is reportedly 12 billion years old.
The body of water is noticeably larger than Earth's total water. Furthermore, scientists estimate it is 140 trillion times larger than all the water in the world's oceans.
However, since the body of water surrounds a massive feeding black hole known as a quasar, located more than 12 billion years away, there is little likelihood that you would be able to see it with a microscope.
The scientists' investigations have shown that the universe was only 1.6 billion years old at one point.
According to Matt Bradford, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the discovery only demonstrated the presence of water across the cosmos.
"The environment around this quasar is unique in that it's producing this huge mass of water," he explained. "It's another demonstration that water is pervasive throughout the universe, even at the very earliest times."
Massive celestial phenomena known as quasars release a great deal of energy. Across the whole electromagnetic spectrum, supermassive black holes generate electromagnetic radiation from the falling gas and dust into their core.
APM 08279+5255, a specific quasar with a black hole 20 billion times more massive than the sun and generating energy equivalent to a thousand trillion suns, was the study subject for both astronomers.
Bradford's team discovered multiple spectral fingerprints of the water, which allowed them to obtain additional information, most notably its enormous mass.
Water vapor had never been discovered by scientists in the early universe before. Although water is throughout the Milky Way, it is mainly covered in ice.
To expand our understanding of the far-off cosmos, researchers in this study suggested constructing a 25-meter telescope in Chile's Atacama Desert.
What Is The Largest Water Reservoir On Earth?
With 97.3% of all water on Earth, the ocean is the biggest water reservoir on the planet. Naturally, this is salt water; unless it is treated specifically to get rid of the salt, it is poisonous.
Glaciers and polar ice are the next largest reserves, with slightly more than 2% of the water available.
While some nations, notably Saudi Arabia-have considered removing icebergs from the frozen North and using them as a supply of fresh water, this is not economically viable in most situations.
Groundwater is the primary source of drinking water. You will ultimately come across water if you continue to drill into the Earth.
Water percolates via the pore spaces and fissures in the rock, and the porosity of the Earth determines how much water it can contain. The ground may not be wet when digging because the pores are air-filled.
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