Webb telescope discovery may help understand how water got on Earth
Jack Birle
Video Embed
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have detected water vapor within 100 million miles of a star where rocky planets are forming.
The discoveries may help scientists understand how Earth was able to form and answer questions about the origin of water within our own solar system, according to NASA.
PROGRESSIVE PETRI DISH: MINNESOTA GOP HITS RESET AFTER RECENT SHELLACKING
“This discovery is extremely exciting, as it probes the region where rocky planets similar to Earth typically form,” Max Planck Institute for Astronomy Director Thomas Henning said in a news release.
The discoveries come from the planetary system PDS 70. The new measurements are significant as this is the first time water has been detected in a region where two or more protoplanets are known to exist.
The scientists studying the discovery have come up with two scenarios for where the water came from. They believe the water either formed in place or that “ice-coated dust particles” moved from the “cool outer disk to the hot inner disk.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
NASA has previously revealed images of Neptune and Jupiter from the Webb telescope, providing detailed pictures that are significantly better than those of previous telescopes.
The Webb telescope was sent into space in December 2021, and NASA has been releasing the telescope’s images since July 2022.