A recent study has provided some new insights on the origin of water in the universe challenging current theories.

About the Study

• Published In: The study is published in the journal Nature Astronomy
• Method: Researchers ran 3D simulations models based on the use of indirect methods, like numerical experiments on population III (The universe’s oldest stars composed completely of hydrogen and helium) supernovae looking for the signatures of water
  • The researcher aimed to capture how ionising UV radiation from the stars heats and drives away ambient gas over their lifetimes.
• Conducted by: University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, England.
• Focus of the Study: Researchers focused on two types of supernova forming dense clumps of gas enriched with water.
  • Core-Collapse Supernovae: It occurs when massive stars collapse under their own weight
  • Pair- Instability Supernovae: It occurs when a star’s inner pressure suddenly falls, leading to its collapse.
• Findings:
  • The universe’s oldest stars (population III)  became founts of water as their nuclear fires were extinguished in massive explosions called supernovae.
  • Timeline: The conditions required to create water existed at around sometime between 50 million and 1 billion years after the Big Bang with the first supernovae explosions. 
  • Stellar Remnants: These Gigantic Population III category stars when exploded, left behind hydrogen, oxygen, and other elements as their stellar remnants providing conditions for water to emerge.
  • Oxygen Formation: The oxygen produced in these supernovae combined with hydrogen to create water.
    • Oxygen only forms during late stages of nuclear burning in massive stars that are destined to explode
  • Concentration: The overall amount of water produced in these early supernovae was highly concentrated in dense regions of gas, known as cloud cores, which are thought to be the birthplaces of stars and planets.
• Significance: 
  • Water Modelling: It is the first time water has been modelled in the primordial universe.
  • Planet Formation: Habitable planets could have started forming much earlier, even before the formation of first galaxies and 100-200 million years after the Big Bang.
  • Life Potential: The research pushes the timeline for potential life to have arisen in the universe way back.
  • Validate Previous Research: The findings validate previous research of at least some of the earth’s water was delivered by comets early in the planet’s history.
    • They also confirm that water molecules remain unchanged from their interstellar origins as they reach planets elsewhere in the universe. 

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