Space breakthrough as study finds 'key ingredient for life' existed billions of years before we first thought
A new study has suggested that water came long before galaxies, 'seeding' the formation of planets – and transforming scientists' understanding of how life began.
A team of scientists from the University of Portsmouth have revealed that water already existed in the universe 100 to 200-million years after the Big Bang, the massive explosion that launched space, time and matter 13.8 billion years ago.
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In the first study of its kind, researchers modelled the water in the primordial universe – the extremely hot, dense and chaotic state of the cosmos just after the Big Bang. Their findings suggest that habitable planets could have started forming much sooner than previously thought, thanks to early cosmic explosions.
According to the simulations, water molecules began forming shortly after the first supernova explosions, which are known as Population III (Pop III) supernovae. These cosmic events were 'essential' for creating elements like oxygen, which are essential for water, according to the study's leader Dr Daniel Whalen, from the University of Portsmouth's Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation.
Dr Whalen said: 'Before the first stars exploded, there was no water in the Universe because there was no oxygen. Only very simple nuclei survived the Big Bang - hydrogen, helium, lithium and trace amounts of barium and boron. Oxygen, forged in the hearts of these supernovae, combined with hydrogen to form water, paving the way for the creation of the essential elements needed for life."
The research team studied two types of exploding stars: core-collapse supernovae, which generate some heavy elements, and the more powerful Pop III supernovae, which blast huge amounts of metals into space. They found that both types formed 'dense clumps' of gas enriched with water.
Although early supernovae produced only a small amount of water, it was packed into dense gas clouds known as cloud cores, Dr Whelan explains. This is where stars and planets are believed to form.
Dr Whalen said: 'The key finding is that primordial supernovae formed water in the Universe that predated the first galaxies. So water was already a key constituent of the first galaxies. This implies the conditions necessary for the formation of life were in place way earlier than we ever imagined - it's a significant step forward in our understanding of the early Universe."
He added: 'Although the total water masses were modest, they were highly concentrated in the only structures capable of forming stars and planets. And that suggests that planetary discs rich in water could form at cosmic dawn, before even the first galaxies.'
The study, a collaboration between the University of Portsmouth and the United Arab Emirates University. was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
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