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Astronomers Find Largest Known Extraterrestrial Water Reserve

Posted by timothy on from the sticking-with-fiji-water-for-now dept.

gerddie writes "Two teams of astronomers have discovered the largest and farthest reservoir of water ever detected in the universe. The water, equivalent to 140 trillion times all the water in the world's ocean, surrounds a huge, feeding black hole, called a quasar, more than 12 billion light-years away. One team, lead by Matt Bradford, made their observations starting in 2008, using an instrument called 'Z-Spec' at the California Institute of Technology's Submillimeter Observatory, a 33-foot (10-meter) telescope near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Follow-up observations were made with the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA), an array of radio dishes in the Inyo Mountains of Southern California. The second group led, by Dariusz Lisused, used the Plateau de Bure Interferometer in the French Alps to find water. In 2010, this team serendipitously detected water in APM 8279+5255, observing one spectral signature. Bradford's team was able to get more information about the water, including its enormous mass, because they detected several spectral signatures of the water."

9 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. that's a lot of water by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    we need to make a canal to bring it to earth

  2. Feeding? by derGoldstein · · Score: 5, Funny

    "surrounds a huge, feeding black hole"

    In this particular case, I think it's a drinking black hole.
    PA-DUM-PUM!

    --
    Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
    1. Re:Feeding? by sribe · · Score: 5, Funny

      ...may have to be revised into "Drunk" black hole.

      Nah, I bet that black hole can hold its liquor ;-)

  3. Giant Space Ocean? by ChinggisK · · Score: 5, Funny

    So basically, there's a freakin' huge ocean floating around (well, falling into a black hole) out in the middle of space? I submit that space is awesome.

    1. Re:Giant Space Ocean? by jfengel · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not so much an "ocean"; the water is in the form of vapor, not liquid. It doesn't even look like a cloud, which is condensed water droplets. The density is most likely lower than the best vacuum we've ever pulled on earth. It's a lot of water, but a LOT of space.

  4. At last by petes_PoV · · Score: 5, Funny

    Someone's found the universe's plug-hole. The only question is: does the water go down it clockwise or anticlockwise?

    --
    politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
    1. Re:At last by bourdux · · Score: 4, Insightful

      He he, it all depends if you're observing it from the front or from the back.

  5. Re:So what? by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We eat food because we're animals. We seek knowledge because we're humans.

  6. Re:The water will be gone by Sulphur · · Score: 4, Funny

    12 billion light years away means 12 billion years ago. That water will be scattered asunder by now.

    The water will be gathered by the black hole, which is still there. The black hole may contain the rest of the ingredients for Kool Aid.