Astronomers using the ALMA have detected gaseous water in the planet-forming disc around the star V883 Orionis
They say the water carries a chemical signature that explains the journey of water from star-forming gas clouds to planets and supports the idea that water on Earth is even older than our sun.
Lead author John J Tobin, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, USA, said: “We can now trace the origins of water in our solar system to before the formation of the sun.”
This discovery was made by studying the composition of water in V883 Orionis, a planet-forming disc about 1,300 light-years away from Earth.
When a cloud of gas and dust collapses it forms a star at its centre. Around the star, material from the cloud also forms a disc. Over the course of a few million years, the matter in the disc clumps together to form comets, asteroids, and eventually planets.
See also: Salty ice could exist on surface of extra-terrestrial moons
ALMA
Tobin and his team used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, to measure chemical signatures of the water and its path from the star-forming cloud to planets.
Water usually consists of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. Tobin’s team studied a slightly heavier version of water where one of the hydrogen atoms is replaced with deuterium – a heavy isotope of hydrogen.
Because simple and heavy water form under different conditions, their ratio can be used to trace when and where it was formed.
For instance, this ratio in some solar system comets has been shown to be similar to that in water on Earth, suggesting that comets might have delivered water to Earth.
The journey of water from clouds to young stars, and then later from comets to planets has previously been observed, but until now the link between the young stars and comets was missing.
Tobin said: “V883 Orionis is the missing link in this case. The composition of the water in the disc is very similar to that of comets in our own solar system.
“This is confirmation of the idea that the water in planetary systems formed billions of years ago, before the Sun, in interstellar space, and has been inherited by both comets and Earth, relatively unchanged.”
V883 Orionis
But observing it turned out to be tricky.
Co-author Margot Leemker, a PhD student at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, said: “Most of the water in planet-forming discs is frozen out as ice, so it’s usually hidden from our view.”
Gaseous water can be detected thanks to the radiation emitted by molecules as they spin and vibrate, but this is more complicated when it is frozen, where the motion of molecules is more constrained.
Gaseous water can be found towards the centre of the discs, close to the star, where it’s warmer. However, these close-in regions are hidden by the dust disc itself, and are also too small to be imaged with our telescopes.
Fortunately, the V883 Orionis disc was shown in a recent study to be unusually hot. A dramatic outburst of energy from the star heats the disc, “up to a temperature where water is no longer in the form of ice, but gas, enabling us to detect it,” Tobin advised.
The team used ALMA, an array of radio telescopes in northern Chile, to observe the gaseous water in V883 Orionis.
Thanks to its sensitivity and ability to discern small details, they were able to both detect the water and determine its composition, as well as map its distribution within the disc.
From the observations, they found this disc contains at least 1,200 times the amount of water in all of Earth’s oceans.
In the future, they hope to use ESO’s upcoming Extremely Large Telescope and its first-generation instrument METIS; a mid-infrared instrument which will be able to resolve the gas-phase of water in these types of discs, strengthening the link of water’s path all the way from star-forming clouds to solar systems.
Leemker concluded: “This will give us a much more complete view of the ice and gas in planet-forming discs.”
The study is published in Nature.
Image 1: This artist’s impression shows the planet-forming disc around the star V883 Orionis. In the outermost part of the disc water is frozen out as ice and therefore can’t be easily detected. An outburst of energy from the star heats the inner disc to a temperature where water is gaseous, enabling astronomers to detect it.
The inset image shows the two kinds of water molecules studied in this disc: normal water, with one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms, and a heavier version where one hydrogen atom is replaced with deuterium, a heavy isotope of hydrogen. © ESO/ L Calçada.
Image 2: ALMA images of the disc around the star V883 Orionis, showing the spatial distribution of water (left, orange), dust (middle, green) and carbon monoxide (blue, right). Because water freezes out at higher temperatures than carbon monoxide, it can only be detected in gaseous form closer to the star. The apparent gap in the water and carbon monoxide images is actually due to the bright emission of the dust, which attenuates the emission of the gas. © ALMA (ESO/ NAOJ/ NRAO)/ J Tobin, B Saxton (NRAO /AUI/ NSF).
Image 3: This diagram illustrates how a cloud of gas collapses to form a star with a disc around it, out of which a planetary system will eventually form. © ESO/ L Calçada.
