FOR astronomers have detected water vapor swirling near a nearby star. That suggests planets forming around them may one day be able to support life.
The young planetary system, known as PDS 70, is 370 light years away. The star at its center is about 5.4 million years old and cooler than our sun.
Surrounding it are the two known gas giant planets, and researchers recently determined that one of them, PDS 70b, may have shared its orbit with a third “sister” planet that formed there.
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The research team plans to observe the system with Webb more in the future. ([email protected])
Two distinct disks of gas and dust, the materials needed to form stars and planets, surround the star. The inner and outer disks are separated by a 5.5 billion mile (eight billion kilometer) gap. The gas giants are in the rift, where they orbit the star.
The Webb Telescope’s Mid-Infrared instrument detected traces of water vapor in the inner disk, less than 160 million kilometers from the star.
Astronomers believe that the inner disk is where small, rocky planets similar to those in our solar system could form if PDS 70 were similar to ours. In our system, Earth orbits at a distance of 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from the sun.
A study details the findings published Monday (30/7) in the journal Nature.
“We’ve seen water on other disks, but not as close and within systems where planets are currently clustered. We couldn’t make these types of measurements before Webb,” said lead study author Giulia Perotti, a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany.
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Astronomers were surprised to find water vapor near the star given its old age. ([email protected])
Mystery of water vapor
PDS 70 is relatively old for the star that hosts the planet-forming disk. That is why, astronomers are surprised to find water vapor near the star considering its age.
The amount of gas and dust in this disk decreases over time due to stellar activity, or as material clumps together to form planets.
Water had never been seen in planet-forming disks of this age before. Astronomers believe that water vapor cannot survive the radiation of a star for very long. It is possible that any rocky planets that form there will dry up.
No planets have been found to have formed in the inner disk, but all the necessary material has been detected. The presence of water vapor indicates that planets may contain water in some form.
Only time will tell whether planets form — and whether they are potentially habitable for life.
“We found a relatively high number of small dust grains. Combined with our detection of water vapor, the inner disk is a really interesting place to be,” said study co-author Rens Waters, professor of astrophysics at Radboud University in the Netherlands.
The research team plans to observe more Webb systems in the future to uncover additional secrets as planetary systems form.
“This discovery is very exciting, as it investigates the region where rocky planets similar to Earth usually form,” study co-author Thomas Henning, director of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and principal investigator of the Mid-Infrared Webb Instrument, said in a statement. (aru)
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2023-08-01 00:33:00
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