The chemical signatures of water ice (shown in bright blue) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (orange) in Cygnus X, one of the most active and turbulent regions of star birth in our Milky Way galaxy. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC/Hora et al.)

A striking new image from NASA's newest space telescope reveals vast reservoirs of water ice stretching across one of the Milky Way's most chaotic stellar nurseries, offering a glimpse into where much of the universe's water — including that found in Earth's oceans — may originate and be stored.

The observations, captured by SPHEREx , map icy material across the turbulent Cygnus X region , a massive star-forming complex filled with dense clouds of gas and dust where new stars are rapidly emerging.…