Observations of a very young star in the early stages of its evolution helped scientists understand this.
Our planet is the world of the ocean, because they make up 70.8% of its surface area. At the same time, the oceans contain 97% of all the water on our planet, and even you and I are 55-60% water, writes Forbes.
Considering how watery the world we live in, researchers have always been interested in the question – where did it originally come from? Probably the first time water was brought to our planet by asteroids and icy comets that came to us from the far icy corners of the solar system. However, even if this is accepted as true, scientists still have another question – did water exist in space before the birth of our Sun? And it looks like they’ve found the answer now.
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According to National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) astronomer John Tobin, scientists have previously failed to link Earth to comets or protostars to the interstellar medium, but research has linked protostars to comets. Now, finally, everything fell into place.
Artist’s impression showing a planet-forming disk around the star V883 Orionis
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Photo: ESO/L. roadway
During the study, scientists observed a young star, which is located at a distance of 1305 light years from us in the constellation Orion. The unique status of the protostar V883 Ori, in fact, gave this opportunity. The fact is that this young star is hot enough that the water around it turns into gas much further than most other stars – as a result, scientists were able to see this in radio telescopes.
Note that in most star systems, water exists in the form of ice, which simply cannot be detected using radio telescopes, but V883 Ori changed everything. Tobin explains that when the snowline is too close to the star, there simply isn’t enough gaseous water to be easily seen, and the dusty disk can block much of the water’s ejection. However, if the snowline is farther away from the star, there is enough gaseous water for scientists to detect it. And it was the latter that happened with the V883 Ori.
This map shows the location of the young star V883 Orionis in the famous constellation of Orion
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Photo: ESO/IAU AND SKY & TELESCOPE
Scientists note that their new study, in fact, reveals the path of water from star-forming gas clouds to planets. The researchers were at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submmillimeter Array (ALMA) radio observatory in Chile when they discovered water in the circumstellar disk of a young protostar.
Now the researchers note that the discovery of water around the protostar, in fact, is a confirmation of the theory that water came to Earth from the interstellar medium, that is, gaseous and dusty regions of space between stars. Which in turn indicates that the water in our solar system actually formed billions of years before the sun.
The researchers note that around V883 Ori is 1200 times more water than in all the oceans of the Earth combined, which is essentially proof that water was inherited by both comets and our planet in a relatively unchanged form billions of years ago.
Previously, Focus wrote that scientists have discovered that a huge iron ball is hidden in the center of the Earth’s core.
