NASA Astronomers Find Largest, Most Distant Reservoir of Water

NASA Astronomers Find Largest, Most Distant Reservoir of Water

www.nasa.gov

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.

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

(visit the link for the full news article)

Once again the Universe never fails to amaze in it's power to blow the mind

I wonder where all that water actually came from - was it a huge planet made up of water that got sucked in? In any event it is nice to see the main precursor to life in such abundance and hopefully this bodes well for the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.

Actually considering the distance in time and space - we are seeing this 12 billion years ago so I guess it's probably all been sucked up by now...

www.nasa.gov
(visit the link for the full news article)

That's alot of water
earth is just a drop of water in the universe
can't imagine how much life it contains

Always think its awesome when NASA say they have found something and carry the tone as though its actually there. But then continualy having to admit they dont actualy have a clue what the universe looks like or where anything is might get a bit tiresome i suppose.

Pretty cool all the same though, i wonder whats there now?

reply to post by ParAvion


Nice find! Time for NASA to go surfing.

reply to post by A por uvas


I would guess none cause it's right next to a quasar. That's not exactly a paradise island like our little gem is.

Just think, a comet coming out of water park like that could be a source of life if it crashed onto a planet like ours, pity about what it's situated right next to. Or was, it'll be long gone now. If we only knew where all that water was going, or even how it got there.

considering the amount of water on this planet

it would have to have been pounded time and time aigan by extremely large comets that all didsnt burn up during atmospheric entry,

so i have a problem with water from earth came from comets

12 billion lght years away i was going to say that its all gone now but considering the distortion of time around a black hole i am not so sure its all gone by now

it might be and it might not be still alot we dont know out there.

reply to post by ParAvion


We can find water 12 billion light years away, yet we cant get images of Cydonia on Mars.....

reply to post by ParAvion

Actually considering the distance in time and space - we are seeing this 12 billion years ago so I guess it's probably all been sucked up by now...

I was thinking the same thing...this isn't "happening" now - it happened oh-so-very-long-ago....
and it seems to me that some of what they're seeing is now ON our planet, no?

This whole concept boggles the mind. We don't see "now" happening in space. We see "then."
Which, to my poor logical mind, means it is the past we are looking at, and not the present. So, doesn't that indicate that the whole "universe" as we "see" and "study" it, is also obsolete?

To my mind, this means that IF there ARE worlds similar to ours, we woudn't be able to see them anyhoo, unless they were within a couple of light-years from us. And IF those currently invisible planets sustain life similar to ours (capable of technology), it's highly possible that THEY have figured out way way wayyyy more than we have in terms of warp-speed travel.

I'm very tired today - but just sayin....
any thoughts?

reply to post by wildtimes


Thats exactly how it is, and it kinda infuriates me a lot when NASA do say stuff like this because they never really put a disclaimer in that says

*please be aware, what we are seeing is 10 billion years old and chances are the planet is not Earth like anymore, infact it is more than likely the universe is now shaped like a triangle and everything we know about the universe is guess work. Apart from the super engineers who get guys into space, were actualy just a bunch of really really over qualified archaeologists, with unlimited funding, who occasionaly spy on people for the government, toodles!

Ummmm that would have to be one huge planet to cause all of that water if the article is correct in stating that it containns 140 trillion times the amount of water on Earth. I doubt a "huge planet of water" is where it came from. Just my 2 cents.

Originally posted by ParAvion

Once again the Universe never fails to amaze in it's power to blow the mind

I wonder where all that water actually came from - was it a huge planet made up of water that got sucked in? In any event it is nice to see the main precursor to life in such abundance and hopefully this bodes well for the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.

Actually considering the distance in time and space - we are seeing this 12 billion years ago so I guess it's probably all been sucked up by now...

www.nasa.gov
(visit the link for the full news article)

edit on 23-7-2011 by ParAvion because: (no reason given)

Everyone knows life was discovered on Mars in 2008, right?

Do you people read the article ever before commenting? Ever?

Originally posted by princeofpeace
Ummmm that would have to be one huge planet to cause all of that water if the article is correct in stating that it containns 140 trillion times the amount of water on Earth. I doubt a "huge planet of water" is where it came from. Just my 2 cents.

IF I'm reading the article correctly, it is sayng the black whole is actualy 'creating' the water from water vapor already present in space.

"The environment around this quasar is very unique in that it's producing this huge mass of water,"

Originally posted by Johnze
reply to post by wildtimes

 

Thats exactly how it is, and it kinda infuriates me a lot when NASA do say stuff like this because they never really put a disclaimer in that says

*please be aware, what we are seeing is 10 billion years old and chances are the planet is not Earth like anymore, infact it is more than likely the universe is now shaped like a triangle and everything we know about the universe is guess work. Apart from the super engineers who get guys into space, were actualy just a bunch of really really over qualified archaeologists, with unlimited funding, who occasionaly spy on people for the government, toodles!

You mean how in the very first paragraph it mentions this is 12 billion light years away? You mean like that?

"It's life Jim but not as we know it" With a discovery like this it is more and more likely that the Universe does have life. I have known it since i was 5. Gut instinct, but now the evidence is mounting. So i think the time is getting closer when Dr McCoy's famous words will become a reality.

Originally posted by ParAvion
I wonder where all that water actually came from -

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe... mix in a little oxygen and a teenie weenie spark and POWWEEEE water

Water Water Everywhere...



An artist’s impression of a transiting exoplanet, named 'HD 189733b' - Image credit: ESA

1 July 2007

Scientists report the first conclusive discovery of the presence of water vapour in the atmosphere of a planet beyond our Solar System.

The discovery was made in 2005 by analysing the transit of the gas giant HD 189733b across its star in the infrared.

Giovanna Tinetti, ESA fellow at the Institute d’Astrophysique de Paris, and colleagues from around the world, used data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Infrared analysis of this gas giant’s transit across its parent star provided the breakthrough. They targeted planet HD 189733b, 63 light-years away, in the constellation Vulpecula.

www.esa.int...

HD 28185 b
Oceans in the Air


Image credit: Copyright © by John Whatmough

Gigantic oceans of water girdle HD 28185 b. But these oceans are not liquid, they are clouds of ice crystals. Here, we see a cloudscape akin to what might be found on our own world, but on a much vaster scale. In the distance, two of the planet's moons are lit by the morning sun. If one of these moons is large enough and far enough from the planet's super energetic magnetic field, it my harbor oceans of its own. Oceans of a more familiar variety.

HD 28185 b is the first exoplanet discovered with a circlular orbit within its star's habitable zone.

Object Type:
Parent Star:
Discovery Status:
Habitability: Water Cloud Jovian
HD 28185 (G5)
Confirmed
Planet at Earthlike Temperatures at Mean Orbital Distance

www.extrasolar.net...

Europa... just one big ball of water, with a layer of ice

[ats]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Europa-moon.jpg/275px-Europa-moon.jpg[//ats]

They are very sure that below the ice is liquid water. Since water is never below 40 degrees (its a jelly/slushy state between that and actual freezing point under normal pressure) there is no reson that the ocean beneath that ice shouldn't be teeming with life



www.daviddarling.info...

In fact NASA is currently testing ENDURANCE down in Antarctica's fresh water lakes beneath the ice as we speak








Nice find didn't have this one yet

Originally posted by Xcathdra
We can find water 12 billion light years away, yet we cant get images of Cydonia on Mars.....

Sure we can... here is the infamous 'Face on Mars'



BIG PICTURE

reply to post by zorgon


Just came in to give you a hug Zorgon

Originally posted by OzWeatherman
Just came in to give you a hug Zorgon

Dang! I though they dragged you out kicking and screaming... Nice to see your still about The halls are getting empty around here lately