Giulia Perotti News Today

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of astronomers studied the properties of a planet-forming disk around a young and very low-mass star. The results reveal the richest hydrocarbon composition seen to date in a protoplanetary disk, including the first extrasolar detection of ethane and a relatively low abundance of oxygen-bearing species. By including previous similar detections, this finding confirms a trend of disks around very low-mass stars to be chemically distinct from those aroun...

 

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has scored another first, detecting evidence of water in a planet-forming disc circling another star where at least two terrestrial-class proto-planets seem to be forming.

Astronomers have discovered water vapor in the planet-forming region of a star, which could help shed light on where Earth's water came from.

Despite closeness to the star, the water vapours have likely survived due to dust shielding which protects it from the stars ultraviolet radiation. | World News

Astronomers have detected water vapor swirling close to a nearby star — indicating that the planets forming around it might someday be able to support life.

Astronomers say they've discovered water vapor near an old star with a planet-creating disk. No planets were found to be forming near its inner disk.

The James Webb Space Telescope has detected water vapors within the inner disk of a nascent planetary system called PDS 70, located 370 light-years away, which could potentially provide the ideal environment for the formation of Earth-like rocky planets. PDS 70 contains two disks of gas and dust, separated by a gap of 5 billion miles, harboring two known gas giant planets, and a third in its formative stages.

Plus: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore is the mission operations center for the telescope.