Rice University astronomer Andrea Isella and colleagues have reported the first observations of gaseous water in the portion of a protoplanetary disk where a rocky, Earth-like planet might be forming around a distant star.
Rice University astronomer Andrea Isella and colleagues have reported the first observations of gaseous water in the portion of a protoplanetary disk where a rocky, Earth-like planet might be forming around a distant star.
Published in Nature Astronomy, the discovery is an important demonstration that water in the habitable zones of young stars can be viewed by telescopes on Earth. Study co-authors included Rice graduate student Ramon Wrzosek and lead author Stefano Facchini of the University of Milan.
The researchers found water in a region of the inner disk of star HL Tauri where a planet may be forming. The star is smaller than the sun and about 450 light years from Earth. The discovery was made with observational data collected more than two years ago with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a facility in Chile that has 66 radio telescopes fanned out over nearly 100 square miles of an plateau more three miles above sea level.
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The sharpest image ALMA has taken of the protoplanetary disc surrounding the young star HL Tauri. A new analysis of the image revealed gaseous water vapor in a region around the star where an Earth-like planet might be forming. (Photo Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO))
