A massive water reserve has been identified around the quasar APM 08279+5255. This quasar, a distant galaxy illuminated by a supermassive black hole at its center, emits energy equivalent to that of a thousand trillion suns. Its central black hole is about 20 billion times more massive than our Sun.
The surrounding water reserve is enormous: it could contain approximately 140,000 trillion times all the water from Earth's oceans combined. Contrary to what one might think, this water exists not in liquid form, but as vapor, floating in a gas and dust cloud heated by the quasar.
Matt Bradford, a researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, emphasizes the significance of this discovery: “The environment around this quasar is unique because it produces this immense amount of water. It is a new demonstration of the omnipresent nature of water in the universe, even in its early moments.”
