the water you drink older than the sun.
Astronomers have released the first evidence linking water in our solar system to water in the vast spaces between stars known as the “interstellar medium.” To do this, scientists were able to take a close look at a young forming star (protostar) about 1,305 light-years away and the disk of gaseous material that formed around it. They discovered that this nascent solar system was not simply filled with water. Importantly, this far-flung water has the same distinct chemical markers as water in our solar system. It is billions of years old.
“This means that the water in our solar system formed long before the sun, planets and comets formed. Nature(opens in new tab)said in a statement(opens in new tab)(The Sun is a medium-sized star, 4 billion years old.)
“We already knew there was a lot of water ice in the interstellar medium,” Van’thoff added. “Our results indicate that this water was incorporated directly into the solar system during its formation, suggesting that other planetary systems must have also received large amounts of water. It’s exciting because it’s there.”
Scientists discover a mysterious solar system. It’s nothing like us.
The water swirling around this distant protostar, called V883 Orion, contains a very similar ratio of hydrogen and hydrogen called deuterium to the water in our solar system. This is a strong chemical fingerprint that shows the close relationship between these different bodies of water.
“This is exciting because it suggests that other planetary systems must have also received large amounts of water.”
Here, the central protostar V883 Orion is surrounded by a circumstellar disk of gas and water, the constituents that make up our solar system.
Credits: ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO) / B. Saxton (NRAO / AUI / NSF)
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Tracking down evidence that our solar system’s water came from interstellar space has been elusive. But the protostar V883 Orionis finally offered an exciting opportunity. Astronomers use a radio telescope equipped with a huge antenna his dish to observe the disk of matter that forms around the protostar. The key is looking for a zone called the “snowline” where water ice turns into gas. This will give you the best, most detailed H2O information on him. If this snow line is too close to the star, it will be impossible to peer into the dusty center of the forming solar system. But in Orion V883, the snow line is so far away that researchers can gain a wealth of insight into the nascent waters of our solar system.
Astronomers used powerful telescopes at the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA).(opens in new tab), located at an altitude of over 16,000 feet in Chile, where the water around Orion V883 can be seen. These telescopes detect wavelengths of light (long wavelength light that we cannot see) from giant clouds in deep interstellar space. “Astronomers can use [this light] For studying the chemical and physical conditions of molecular clouds, dense regions of gas and dust where new stars are being born,” explains the European Southern Observatory’s ALMA website. They shine brightly in the millimeter and submillimeter parts of the spectrum. “
The radio antenna of ALMA, which observes deep space.
Credit: Sergio Otarola / ALMA (ESO / NAOJ / NRAO)
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In the extreme cold of interstellar space, water freezes to ice on the dust particles of these cosmic clouds. Eventually, as this dust collapses and coalesces around young stars like V883 Orion, water gradually accumulates on comets, asteroids, moons, and planets. For example, in our solar system, some of the moon’s craters are flooded with water ice, vast oceans stretch over the Earth, icy comets soar over our cosmic neighborhoods, and deep oceans form between the Moon’s Europa and It may exist under the ice shell of Enceladus.
And this water is in cosmic clouds, light-years away, researchers say.
