An illustration of a water planet in the early universe. New research suggests that the first water molecules in space may have formed billions of years earlier than previously thought. (Image courtesy of NASA)
New research suggests that water may have formed in the universe much earlier than scientists thought, which could indicate that life may have also survived for billions of years longer.
Water is one of the essential components of life as we know it. But the question of when exactly water first appeared has been a topic of scientific interest for decades.
A new study suggests that water likely existed 100 million to 200 million years after the Big Bang — billions of years earlier than scientists previously predicted. The study was published March 3 in the journal Nature Astronomy.
The early universe was devoid of moisture, as it was mostly made up of very simple elements like hydrogen, helium, and lithium. Heavier elements only began to form after the first stars formed, burned through their fuel, and eventually exploded. These stellar explosions, known as supernovae, acted like pressure cookers, squeezing lighter elements into heavier ones.
“Oxygen produced in the interiors of these supernovae combines with hydrogen to create water and pave the way for the formation of the essential elements needed for life,” said study co-author Daniel Whalen, an astrophysicist at the University of Portsmouth in the UK.
To figure out exactly when the water formed, the researchers analyzed the oldest supernovae, known as Population III supernovae. Whalen and his team looked at models of two types of these early remnant stars: core-collapse supernovae, where a large star collapses under its own gravity; and pair-instability supernovae, where the star's internal pressure drops sharply, causing it to partially collapse.
The researchers found that shortly after the Big Bang, both types of supernovae formed dense gas clouds that likely contained water.
Overall, the volume of water in these gas clouds was probably quite small – but it was concentrated in regions where planets and stars could form. The earliest galaxies likely arose from these regions, implying that water may have already been in the mix when they formed.
“This suggests that the conditions needed for life to emerge existed much earlier than we thought, and is a major step forward in our understanding of the early universe,” Whalen said.
Observations using the James Webb Space Telescope, designed to study the oldest stars in the universe, may further confirm these findings.
TOPICS water
Joanna ThompsonNavigate Social LinksLive Science Contributor
Joanna Thompson is a science journalist and runner based in New York City. She holds a BA in zoology and a BA in creative writing from North Carolina State University, and an MA in science journalism from NYU’s Science, Health, and Environment Reporting Program. Read more about her work at Scientific American, The Daily Beast, Atlas Obscura, or Audubon Magazine.
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