Water, recognized as the universal solvent, has served as the cradle for the development of life on Earth. Even in the quest for signs of life in the cosmos, the presence of water is regarded as a promising indicator. Recently, scientists have detected water, exceeding three times the volume of all Earth’s oceans combined, within a disk surrounding a young star. This water is situated within the disk, which has the potential to give rise to planets orbiting the star.
The breakthrough was achieved by researchers utilizing the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) located in Chile, with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) serving as a partner in the ALMA project. These scientists not only captured an image of the star but also mapped the water swirling within the planet-forming disk. Stefano Facchini, an astronomer from the University of Milan, expressed astonishment at the discovery, stating, “I had never imagined that we could capture an image of oceans of water vapor in the same region where a planet is likely forming,” as cited by EurekaAlert.
Facchini spearheaded the study, which was published in the journal Nature Astronomy on Thursday (Feb 29). The star harboring the swirling water, HL Tauri, is situated 450 light-years away from Earth within the Taurus constellation. Co-author Leonardo Testi, an astronomer from the University of Bologna, Italy, remarked on the remarkable feat of detecting and capturing detailed images of water vapor, spatially resolved, from a distance of 450 light-years.
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