CNN Indonesia
Thursday, 09 Mar 2023 16:04 WIB
Experts discovered the presence of water on the star V883 Orionis which is 1300 light years from Earth. (www.nature.com)
Jakarta, CNNIndonesia —
A number of experts from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory found water molecules near bintang muda V883 of Orion.
Quoted from CNN, experts discovered the star by using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope in Chile. The star is about 1,300 light years from Earth.
Star V883 Orionis appears to have a planet-forming disk made of gas and dust left over from its birth. Ultimately, the material in the disk formed comets, asteroids and planets over millions of years.
Using ALMA, scientists are trying to measure chemical signals from the disk that formed the planet. As a result, they detect the presence of water vapor or gaseous water.
The detection results allow astronomers to track the journey of water from the gas clouds that form stars and eventually give rise to planets.
“We can now trace the origin of water in the Solar System to before the formation of the Sun,” said study leader John J. Tobin, astronomer for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
Experts have published the results of their study in the journal Nature under the title Deuterium-enriched water ties planet-forming disks to comets and protostars.
In their article, experts suspect that comets originating from the planet-forming disk of the Sun can bring water to Earth. This means that water on Earth could be older than the Sun, which is 4.6 billion years old.
Usually, water molecules are formed from one oxygen atom combined with two hydrogen atoms.
The experts then studied a variation called heavy water which was detected in the V883 Orionis disc. There, one hydrogen atom is replaced by a heavy isotope called deuterium.
Water used on Earth and heavy water both form in different scenarios. The ratio of the two objects can be used by scientists to track when and where water molecules are formed.
Astronomers believe comets may have played a role in bringing water to Earth in its early birth through impacts. The reason is, some comets have a ratio similar to water on Earth.
Experts also consider V883 Orionis to be a missing link between a star born from a cloud of gas and dust containing water molecules, and a comet also originating from the same cloud, which revolves around the newborn star.
“V883 Orionis is missing link in this case. The composition of the water on its disk is similar to that of comets in our solar system,” said Tobin.
“This is confirmation of the idea that water in planetary systems formed billions of years ago, before the Sun was in space. That water was then inherited by comets and Earth and remained relatively unchanged,” he said.
Not easy
Detecting the presence of water in planet-forming disks is not easy. This is because the disc is usually frozen “so the water is usually hidden from our view,” said one of the study’s authors, Margon Leemker, doctoral student at the Leiden Observatory.
Surprisingly, the disk on V883 Orionis is warm due to the energy being released by the star. The energy turned the ice into gas and allowed experts to detect it.
Water in gaseous form is easier to detect because its molecules emit radiation when they move. Experts also detected at least 1,200 times the amount of water in Earth’s oceans, on the V883 Orionis disk.
Experts for further research want to use the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and its first generation instrument, the Mid-infrared ELT Imager along with the Spectograph or METIS. Currently, the ELT is still under construction in Chile and is expected to be ready for use in 2028.
(lth)
