In a groundbreaking discovery that redefines our understanding of the universe, astronomers have located a massive cloud of water vapor in deep space. This cosmic reservoir is so enormous that it contains 140 trillion times the amount of water found in all of Earth’s oceans combined. Located near a distant quasar about 12 billion light-years away, this is the largest and farthest concentration of water ever detected in the universe.

The water surrounds a quasar—a massive, energetic bright object powered by a black hole—known as APM 08279+5255. Scientists estimate that this water cloud dates back to when the universe was only 1.6 billion years old. The sheer scale of this discovery suggests that water was prevalent in the cosmos even during its very early stages. Unlike the liquid oceans on our planet, this water exists in the form of scorching hot gas and dust, spread across hundreds of light-years of space.

According to researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), this discovery provides vital clues about the evolution of galaxies and the role of water in the formation of stars. While the environment around the quasar is too extreme for life as we know it, the presence of such a vast amount of water vapor changes everything we knew about the early chemical composition of the universe.