As reported by Science News, new research suggests that water, a crucial ingredient for life, may have formed in the universe far earlier than previously thought—just 100 million to 200 million years after the Big Bang. Computer simulations indicate that the first generation of stars, upon their explosive deaths, produced conditions suitable for the creation of water vapor, according to a study published March 3 in Nature Astronomy.
“The surprise was that the ingredients for life were all in place in dense cloud cores so early after the Big Bang,” said astrophysicist Daniel Whalen of the University of Portsmouth.
Previously, astronomers had detected signatures of water dating back to around 780 million years after the Big Bang. However, these new simulations show that supernovas from the universe’s earliest stars likely created the oxygen needed to form water, combining with hydrogen in the cool, dense remnants of these explosions.
Simulating the Birth of Water in the Early Universe
To investigate whether water could have formed in the infancy of the universe, Whalen and his colleagues simulated the life cycles of two early stars—one 13 times the mass of the Sun and another 200 times the Sun’s mass. Both stars burned brightly but briefly before exploding as supernovas, scattering elements, including oxygen and hydrogen, into space.
As the supernova remnants expanded and cooled, oxygen began reacting with hydrogen and molecular hydrogen (H₂) to form water vapor. Due to the low density of particles in the expanding debris, water formation took millions or even tens of millions of years to accumulate in significant amounts.
How Much Water Did These Supernovas Create?
The simulations revealed that in the dense central regions of the supernova remnants, water formed rapidly. The smaller supernova produced an amount of water equivalent to a third of Earth’s mass, while the larger one generated enough water to equal 330 Earths.
“The total overall mass of water being formed, it’s not that much,” Whalen noted. “But it becomes really concentrated in the dense cores, and the dense cores are the most interesting structures in the remnant, because that’s where new stars and planets can form.”
If planets formed in these regions, they could have been rich in water, possibly resembling early versions of water worlds like Earth.
The Early Universe: More Habitable Than Expected?
This discovery hints at the possibility that the early universe may have been more conducive to habitability than once believed. While water alone does not guarantee life, astronomers are now turning to the next big question: How soon after the Big Bang could carbon and hydrogen combine to create the molecules essential for life?
“There seems to be an indication that the universe as a whole may have been habitable, if you like, already quite early on,” said astronomer Volker Bromm of the University of Texas at Austin. “But water doesn’t get you all the way to life.”
As scientists continue to refine their models and gather new observational evidence, the origins of water—and potentially life itself—may be pushed even closer to the dawn of the cosmos.
Keywords:
Early universe water formation, First stars supernova water, Water in space after Big Bang, Life ingredients, early universe, Supernovas and habitable planets.
