US EditionJames Webb Telescope Confirms Crystalline Water Ice in Young Star System
- Researchers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope confirmed crystalline water ice in the debris disk around star HD 181327, located 155 light-years away.
- This discovery follows decades of speculation, as previous instruments lacked sensitivity to detect ice in debris disks surrounding young stars.
- HD 181327 is a sun-like star about 23 million years old, with a wide debris disk containing over 20% water ice in its cold outer regions where dust is sparse.
- Lead author Chen Xie explained that Webb clearly identified the presence of crystalline water ice— a form of ice also observed in Saturn’s rings and objects within the Kuiper Belt of our solar system.
- This confirmation highlights water ice’s critical role in early planet formation and opens new avenues to study water’s influence in young planetary systems.
27 Articles
27 Articles
NASA’s James Webb Telescope Just Found Frozen Water Around Another Star
Water ice is a crucial building block of planetary systems. We've found plenty of it in our own Solar System, in places like Europa, Mars, and wayward comets, but we've never made a definitive detection of frozen water around other stars. Plenty of water vapor, yes, but no (d)ice. But that just changed. Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, a team of astronomers have confirmed the presence of water ice in a debris disk encircling a young, Sun…
Observador
IOL PortugalResearchers confirm for the first time the existence of ice outside the solar system
The water ice was detected in the form of crystalline, mixed with fine powder, in an active system where collided ice bodies release particles detected by Telescope James Webb.
James Webb Space Telescope Confirms Major Discovery of Water Ice in Alien Planetary System for the First Time
Astronomers say they have confirmed the presence of water ice in a planetary system beyond our own for the first time, in the latest major discovery made possible by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The discovery, which astronomers have demonstrated to be water in the form of crystalline ice, and not just as water vapor, marks a significant milestone in the long-running search for evidence of water ice in distant star systems. Although …
Water ice in the debris disk around HD 181327
Debris disks are exoplanetary systems that contain planets, minor bodies (asteroids, Kuiper belt objects, comets and so on) and micrometre-sized debris dust1. Because water ice is the most common frozen volatile, it plays an essential role in the formation of planets2,3 and minor bodies. Although water ice has been commonly found in Kuiper belt objects and comets in the Solar System4, no definitive evidence for water ice in debris disks has been…
James Webb finds ice water in a young star system for the first time
It had previously been found in Saturn’s rings and frozen bodies in the Kuiper Belt of our Solar System, but never in a place like this. An international team of researchers, including the astrophysics Noemí Pinilla, from the University of Oviedo at the Institute of Space Sciences and Technologies of Asturias (ICTEA), has discovered for the first time crystalline water ice on a dusty debris disk around a young star similar to the Sun. The future…
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