Is there frozen water just floating around in outer space like 'dirty snowballs'?
GREENBELT, Md. – Astronomers now believe frozen water might be a common sight outside of our solar system thanks to newly reviewed data from Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope.
According to the space agency, scientists have confirmed the presence of ice around HD 181327, a star that is similar to our Sun.
The giant star is located about 155 light-years away from Earth and is thought to be around 23 million years old – much younger than the 4.6-billion-year-old Sun.
But similar to our solar system's star, HD 181327 is surrounded by a large, dusty debris and that is where scientists say the ice exists.
Previous research had suggested the presence of frozen water, but its potential existence wasn't solidified until after the Webb became operational.
"Webb unambiguously detected not just water ice, but crystalline water ice, which is also found in locations like Saturn's rings and icy bodies in our solar system's Kuiper Belt," Chen Xie, the lead author of the new paper and an assistant research scientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, said in a statement.
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Scientists described the ice as resembling dirty snowballs and published an artist rendering of what the phenomenon would look like if an astronaut had a front-row seat to the icy belt.
As any novice would surmise, the debris disk is said to vary in water ice thickness, from being heavily populated to non-existent the closer you move to the star.
"In the area of the debris disk closest to the star, Webb detected almost none. It's likely that the star's ultraviolet light vaporizes the closest specks of water ice. It's also possible that rocks known as planetesimals have "locked up" frozen water in their interiors, which Webb can't detect," NASA stated.
Why is finding ice so important? It may lead to planet formation and bring together the origins of life.
"The presence of water ice helps facilitate planet formation," Xie stated. "Icy materials may also ultimately be 'delivered' to terrestrial planets that may form over a couple hundred million years in systems like this."
Water ice has already been observed in numerous locations within our solar system, including on Mercury, Mars, Saturn, our Moon, other planets' moons, and the Kuiper Belt.
Scientists say what Webb has not picked up on yet are planets around HD 181327, which could be for various reasons, including the infancy of the distant solar system.
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The Webb is nearing four years in space and has already beamed back stunning images that far surpass the quality of imagery produced by the Hubble and other older telescopes.
NASA believes operations of the James Webb Space Telescope have exceeded expectations, and the space observatory could easily exceed its expected 10-year lifespan.Original article source: Is there frozen water just floating around in outer space like 'dirty snowballs'?
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