The research team plans to observe the system with Webb more in the future to reveal additional secrets as a planetary system takes shape. The water vapor has likely remained stable despite its proximity to the star because the dust protects it from being broken apart by the star’s ultraviolet radiation. It’s possible that hydrogen and oxygen atoms combine to form water molecules within the inner disk, or that icy dust particles are moving from the cooler outer disk to the hot inner disk, causing the ice to become vapor. Combined with our detection of water vapor, the inner disk is a very exciting place,” said study coauthor Rens Waters, professor of astrophysics at Radboud University in the Netherlands, in a statement. “We find a relatively high amount of small dust grains. Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument detected emission lines from water vapor in the inner disk around the star. Only time will tell whether the planets form - and if they are potentially habitable for life. The presence of water vapor suggests the planets could contain water in some form. No planets have been found forming in the inner disk, but all the ingredients necessary have been detected. Water hasn’t been spotted in a planet-forming disk of this age before, which led astronomers to believe that water vapor couldn’t survive stellar radiation for such long periods and that any rocky planets forming there would be dry. The amount of gas and dust in these disks decline over time due to the activity of the star, or because the material clumps together to form planets. PDS 70 is relatively old for a star that hosts a planet-forming disk. PDS 70 is relatively old for a star that hosts a planet-forming disk.Īstronomers were surprised to discover water vapor near the star given its age. We couldn’t make this type of measurement before Webb,” said lead study author Giulia Perotti, a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, in a statement. “We’ve seen water in other disks, but not so close in and in a system where planets are currently assembling. In our system, Earth orbits at a distance of 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from the sun.Ī study detailing the findings published Monday in the journal Nature. Astronomers believe that inner disk is where small, rocky planets similar to those in our solar system could form if PDS 70 is anything like our solar system. The Webb telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument detected the signature of water vapor in the inner disk, less than 100 million miles (160 million kilometers) from the star. A planet can be seen orbiting the star in the upper right corner. An artist's illustration shows a star, called PDS 70, and its innermost disk.
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