News Astronomy

The universe’s first supernovas probably produced water

Water could have formed only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang

A multicolored bubble, ringed in blue and filled with filaments of various colors, on a black background

The supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (seen here in a false-color X-ray image) is all that remains of a star that exploded thousands of years ago in the Milky Way. Astronomers think supernovas just 100 million to 200 million years after the Big Bang could have produced water.

NASA, CXC, SAO

By Mara Johnson-Groh

The first generation of stars in the universe could have produced significant amounts of water upon their deaths, just 100 million to 200 million years after the Big Bang.