Water is a crucial molecule for life as we know it, and researchers have discovered that it existed much earlier in the universe’s lifetime than previously thought. A study published in Nature Astronomy found that habitable worlds could have formed billions of years before the current estimate.
The team of researchers used simulations to model water in the primordial universe and found that it began to form after the first supernovae, which were necessary for creating heavy elements like oxygen. Without oxygen, there was no water, according to Daniel Whalen, a cosmologist at the University of Portsmouth and lead author of the study.
The researchers investigated two types of supernovae and found that they produced water-enriched clumps of gas that waft through the cosmos. These dense molecular cloud cores are also likely candidates for protoplanetary disk formation.
The study reveals that one of the most fundamental conditions for life existed much earlier than previously known, indicating that the early universe may have been a lively place. The findings support the idea that instruments like the Webb Space Telescope will help experts understand the history of life and the evolution of the cosmos.
While we haven’t yet discovered life beyond Earth, research like this is helping scientists creep towards an understanding of how life may have come to be.
Source: https://gizmodo.com/water-existed-in-the-universe-billions-of-years-earlier-than-thought-astronomers-say-2000570732