By Jung Jee-seob
Astronomers have discovered the universe’s largest water mass ever known to the human race, the Science Daily reported. It is located in the vicinity of a single quasar, also known as a gigantic gas-absorbing, energy-spewing black hole.
Although it is not a blobby ocean of water like Earth’s Pacific, the enormous hazy cloud contains 140 trillion times more water than all of Earth’s H2O combined, and that’s not all, the daily said.
Professor Alberto Bolatto of the University of Maryland confirmed that its existence began 1.6 billion years after the universe was born.
The story all comes down to the quasar, the center of this extraordinary yet bizarre discovery. Supplying the surrounding cloud with its moisture and extra water particles, professionals used a telescope in California and in Hawaii to distinguish the moisture in the air around the great void. The quasar demonstrates this water-spreading technique by absorbing unbelievable amounts of energy and releasing water and other substances.
The size of this cloud still shocks the science world. Consisting of 4,000 times more water than in the Milky Way, it measures hundreds of light years and clearly visible through a high-tech but not-so-remarkable telescope.
With such a miraculous find in mind, the scientific world will no longer have any doubts about their success, according to the daily.
The writer is a Korea Times intern. jeeseob@gmail.com