NASA's JWST Discovers Water Vapor Molecules in Rocky Planet-Forming Zone

Joseph Henry, Tech Times 25 July 2023, 01:07 pm

NASA has uncovered an interesting discovery where a rocky planet-forming zone contains water vapor molecules.

This is the first time that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) detected the presence of the molecules in an Earth-like region that is 370 light-years away from the planet.

Water Vapor in an Extraterrestrial Zone

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Discovers Water Vapor Molecules in a Rocky Planet-Forming Zone

(Photo: NASA ) NASA stumbled upon a region with extraterrestrial water which might lead to the Earth's origin and how its water reservoirs are formed.

With the presence of the so-called extraterrestrial water in a distant star system, scientists think that this could be the key to solving the mystery behind Earth's formation.

According to NASA, this might pinpoint some hints of how the water reservoirs emerged in the first place.

In an official release of the space agency, the study's co-author Thomas Henning said that could highlight that there are Earth-like planets that contain water.

With that, the experts observed PDS 70, an alien star system that is believed to be 5.4 million years old. With the help of Webb's MIRI or Mid-Infrared Instrument, the team ran an observation of a K-type star that is deemed to be cooler than the sun.

NASA's study suggests that a pair of protoplanetary rings exist around the star. Aside from that, its inner and outer disks are composed of dust and gas.

The scientists said that the water vapor molecules can be found in the inner disk of the rock-like region. It's situated less than 100 million miles from the celestial body.

"We've seen water in other disks, but not so close in and in a system where planets are currently assembling. We couldn't make this type of measurement before Webb," Giulia Perotti, lead author from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg, Germany said.

It's interesting to know that other planets which share the same rocky characteristics such as Mrs and Mercury have this kind of inner disk. From here, some experts claim that the presence of water molecules indicates that the said planets could be habitable in the future.

The Origin of the Water

In another story by Interesting Engineering, the water is said to originate from a "water-rich nebula." This later brought the formation of PDS 70. Somehow, this means that the water molecules have been existing in the inner ring for a long time.

Another hypothesis suggests that the water was first present in the outer ring, but later went to the inner disk. At one point, the water ice transformed into water vapor, hence the process of sublimation.

Meanwhile, Tech Times reported that more Americans preferred to see more NASA missions related to asteroids. A new survey said that the majority of them likely ditched the explorations on Mars.

While the two different missions are of varying importance, the residents believe that monitoring killer asteroids should be prioritized over building a habitable place on the red planet.