The Swedish-ESO PI receiver for APEX (SEPIA) is a new instrument attached to the 12-meter Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope and it is opening doors to otherwise unexplored cosmic possibilities. SEPIA will be able to detect signals - however faint - from water molecules in the Milky Way, nearby in other galaxies and in the early universe, according to a press release from European Southern Observatory (ESO).

Since it is located in the arid Chajnantor Plateau in northern Chile, SEPIA is unhindered by water vapor in the atmosphere and is able to detect faint signals from water and other molecules in space. Water is believed to be a major player in the origin of life and other astrological processes.

"The first measurements with SEPIA on APEX show that we really are opening up a new window, including looking at water in interstellar space," said John Conway, director of Onsala Space Observatory at the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. "SEPIA will give astronomers a chance to search for objects that can be followed up at higher spatial resolution when the same receiver becomes operational on the ALMA array.

Not only does the instrument need to be kept dry, it also needs to stay cool - at a temperature of -269 degrees Celsius (4 degrees above absolute zero). Thanks to recent technological advancements, instruments like SEPIA are now possible.