Astronomers detect massive water vapor reservoir 12 billion light-years away

Twelve billion light-years from Earth, in the violent halo of one of the universe's most energetic objects, astronomers have found water — not in modest traces, but in quantities 140 trillion times greater than all of Earth's oceans combined. The discovery, made possible by advances in molecular detection across cosmic distances, places water's presence far earlier and in far more extreme conditions than science had previously imagined. It is a reminder that the universe has been building the ingredients of familiarity long before there was anyone to recognize them.