
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 3, 1994                   TAG: 9406030112
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MINNEAPOLIS                                LENGTH: Short

WATER DISCOVERED IN GALAXY FAR AWAY

Astronomers have detected water at the most distant point from Earth so far, a discovery that adds to the growing belief this essential ingredient of life may be present throughout the universe.

The water was found 200 million light years away by radio telescope in Markarian 1, a galaxy emitting so much energy from its center that it is believed to contain a black hole, said James A. Braatz, an astronomer at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Appropriately, Markarian 1 is located in the constellation Pisces - or fish.

The discovery was announced Thursday at the American Astronomical Society's national meeting.

Jack Welch, director of the radio astronomy laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, called it ``very exciting'' and said it adds to the idea that water may be found everywhere, possibly nurturing life.

``If this stuff is out, then there is a good chance that there are living beings elsewhere,'' Welch said. ``The presence of water makes for the likelihood of life emerging in a number of places.''

Welch was a member of the team that found interstellar water in the Milky Way in 1969.

Braatz said the water in Markarian 1 was found near the highly energetic galactic center by a radio telescope tuned to detect the unique electromagnetic signature for water.

The water in Markarian 1 is contained in clouds that are rotating at thousands of miles an hour around the galaxy center, where it's believed a black hole could exist.

by CNB