An international team of astrophysicists, including those from Western University in London, Ontario, used the James Webb Space Telescope to reveal how an ocean’s worth of water is being destroyed every month in the Orion Nebula’s planetary nursery. ing.
according to News release from Western Universityan international team including Western astrophysicists Else Peters and Jan Kami discovered the destruction and reformation of large amounts of water within the planet-forming disk at the center of the Orion Nebula.
The discovery was made using a combination of observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and quantum physics calculations.
The research is part of the PDRs4All early release scientific program, led by Paris-Saclay University PhD student Marion Zannese, and recently natural astronomy.
A total of 13 early release science programs were selected by NASA to demonstrate the capabilities of JWST, and PDRs4All was one of them.
“This is very impressive because by looking at just a few pixels and focusing on a few lines, you can actually see that an entire ocean of water is evaporating every month,” said the co-principal investigator. Peters said. PDRs4All and Western Earth and Space Exploration Institute faculty.
life line of the universe
As far as we know, water is an essential element for the creation of life.
Most of the water in Earth’s oceans was formed in the frigid regions of interstellar space at -250 degrees Celsius long before the birth of our solar system.
According to Western, some of this water was destroyed and reformed at temperatures between 100 degrees Celsius and 500 degrees Celsius when the solar system was just a disk of gas and dust orbiting the infant Sun. It is said that there is a possibility.
So why is recycling this interstellar water important?
The team of researchers pointed out that JWST is directed toward d203-506, a planet-forming disk in the Orion Nebula and a nursery for planetary systems.
The intense ultraviolet light produced by the massive star “causes the destruction and reformation of water in d203-506, making it a true interstellar laboratory,” Western said.
“The James Webb Telescope is amazingly powerful. This discovery is not talking about finding a needle in a haystack. This is a needle in a haystack made of needles,” says Physics and said Cami, professor of astronomy and core member of PDRs4All.
What’s inside the molecule?
So how can we observe the formation and destruction of molecules more than 1,000 light years away?
Experts from the Madrid Deep Space Communications Facility in Spain and the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands were key to understanding how the formation and destruction of these interstellar molecules can be observed.
Western said that when water is destroyed by ultraviolet light, it releases hydroxyl molecules, which in turn release photons, which travel all the way to JWST. In total, it is estimated that water equivalent to all of Earth’s oceans is destroyed and replenished in the “d203-506” system every month.
JWST also revealed that hydroxyl, a key intermediate in water production, is also produced in large quantities from atomic oxygen. Therefore, some of the water that makes up Earth’s oceans may have gone through such cycles.
“This discovery was based on a small portion of our spectroscopic data. We are excited that there is so much more data to mine and can’t wait to see what else we will find.” said Peters.
