Revolutionary Discovery: Water Existed Billions of Years Earlier Than Previously Believed!

Water is essential for life, and it turns out it might have formed in the universe much sooner than we thought. New research indicates that water molecules could have emerged just 100 to 200 million years after the Big Bang. This finding gives us fresh insights into how the early universe developed.

So, how does water form in space? Water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, two elements that didn’t appear at the same time. After the Big Bang, hydrogen was one of the first elements to exist, along with helium and lithium. These lightweight elements helped create the first stars and galaxies.

Oxygen, on the other hand, came much later. It was produced inside massive stars through a process called nuclear fusion. When these stars exploded in supernovae, they spread oxygen and other heavy elements into space, paving the way for water to form. The exact timing of this process was previously unclear.

A recent study by Daniel Whalen and his team from Portsmouth University, published in Nature Astronomy, explored how water might have emerged from early supernova explosions. They used computer simulations to analyze two types of supernovae:

• One from a star 13 times the mass of the Sun
• Another from a much larger star, 200 times the Sun’s mass

The results revealed that these early supernovae produced significant amounts of oxygen, which could combine with hydrogen already in space. As these elements cooled, they formed water molecules much faster than expected.

The simulations showed that the smaller supernova created a small amount of water between 30 to 90 million years after its explosion. In contrast, the larger supernova generated measurable water in just 3 million years.

This suggests that water existed in space long before Earth formed. If this early water survived the chaotic processes that shaped galaxies, it might have been part of the first planetary systems.

A key question remains: Did this early water last, or was it destroyed by the harsh conditions of the young universe? The formation of the first galaxies involved intense radiation and gravitational forces that could have disrupted water molecules.

If the water did survive, it might have contributed to the early planetary systems, possibly creating conditions for life much earlier than we thought. This could change how scientists view the origins of habitable worlds beyond our planet.

This research suggests that water molecules may have formed billions of years earlier than expected, hinting that the building blocks of life might have existed much earlier in the universe’s history.