WWW.FRONTPAGEDETECTIVES.COM / LATEST NEWS

Scientists Stunned to Discover an Enormous Water Source in Outer Space, Say It's 3X Greater Than Earth’s Oceans

Experts detect vapor in the disc surrounding a star, raising speculation that it could possible one day be a habitat for life forms

BY SOMDATTA MAITY

PUBLISHED 5 HOURS AGO

Earth-like planet formation, illustration - stock illustration (Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by NEMES LASZLO/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY)

Water is one of the strongest indicators of life on a planet. Hence, when researchers found evidence of it on an extraterrestrial body, their interest was piqued, stated Indy100. Findings regarding this body have been published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Astronomers have found water vapour in a disc around a young star exactly where planets may be forming (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons | Photo by ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Facchini et al.)

The extraterrestrial body in question is a disk surrounding a star named HL Tauri, which has been estimated to be around 450 light-years away from Earth. It was observed by experts using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Researchers detected what they believed to be a massive amount of vapour in the disk. The team was stunned because, as per their calculation, the amount of vapour in this disc appears to be three times more than what is present on Earth. Considering how important water is in formulating and sustaining life, researchers believe that the detection could mean that the possible planet rising out of this disc could be a habitat for life forms.

Researchers claimed that the disc was made out of gas as well as dust, and could possibly birth a planet in the future, according to Space. The detection of water vapour in this disc is valuable for scientists, as it is the first time they have been able to map water distribution in a protoplanetary disk. These kinds of disks exhibit cool as well as stable gas, and hence are considered to be ideal for planet formation. In this scenario, HL Tauri would take on the role fulfilled by the sun in the solar system.

The team associated with the study zoomed in on the water vapor locked inside the gas and dust of HL Tauri using ALMA. Stefano Facchini, research leader and an astronomer at the University of Milan, described the visual as "oceans of water vapor." The results made the team speculate that water could be a key element in the development of a planetary system. The most amount of water vapour was spotted in the curved gap of the body. According to experts, this ring-shaped groove was possibly created when forming planets began orbiting around the star. Spotting vapour in this disc means that water is a part of the forthcoming planet's composition.

Experts are astonished that ALMA has become so adept that it can distinguish water vapor at such an incredible distance. The pursuit is typically difficult for ground-based telescopes because of the vapour's obscuring effect. However, ALMA managed to focus on the vapor present on HL Tauri with incredible precision.

The European Southern Observatory released one of the images captured by ALMA of this disc. As per experts, the water vapor is represented by shades of blue. The young star is at the centre and is prominent in the picture. This is possibly because the environment there is hotter, and hence the gas is brighter. The red-hued rings were detected in past ALMA observations and showcase how dust is distributed around HL Tauri. ESO was also a partner in the project.

Researchers are optimistic that the planet-forming disc could soon be visualized in more detail, according to Space. This is because ALMA is undergoing major upgrades that will increase its power and accuracy, and other tools like the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) are also upping their game.