A team of scientists from the American National Radio Astronomy Observatory has discovered the "missing link" in the search for the source of water in our solar system, by observing and studying the emergence of a star inside a dusty cloud located 1,300 light-years away from Earth. the earth.

And as stated in the results of the study published in the journal "Nature" on the eighth of March, the water of the solar system, including the water now on Earth, was present in the gaseous cradle from which the sun was born, as the water of the system The solar was not only created before the earth, but before the sun as well.

In search of the missing link

According to the press release issued by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, when scientists were studying the formation of the initial star "V883 Orionis", they found gaseous water in the surrounding disk with a chemical composition close to that found in comets orbiting the Earth, which is This indicates that the water carried by comets to the ancient Earth came from gas clouds older than the sun.

"We can now trace the origins of water in our solar system back before the formation of the sun," says John Tobin, lead author of the study and an astronomer at the observatory.

According to the statement, although previous research had shown that the water in the comets of the solar system is similar to the water found on Earth, a ring was missing, and it was found during the study and monitoring of the emergence of the primary star.

How is water formed in stars and comets?

“We already knew that there is a lot of water ice in the interstellar medium, as our results show that this water was directly integrated into the solar system during its formation, and this is exciting,” says Merrill Van Hoff, an astronomer at the University of Michigan, co-author of the paper. Because it indicates that other planetary systems should have received significant amounts of water as well."

Hoff adds, "Elucidating the role of water in the development of comets and minor planets is critical to building an understanding of how our solar system evolved, although the sun is thought to have formed in a dense cluster of stars and the star (V883 Orionis) is relatively isolated with no stars nearby." , the two have one important thing in common, which is that they both formed into giant molecular clouds."

By looking at the water in the disk of the star V883 Orionis, we see how our solar system began when it was younger (ALMA)

In this regard, the lead author of the study, John Tobin, says, "It is known that the bulk of the water in the interstellar medium is formed as ice on the surfaces of small dust grains in clouds, and when these clouds collapse under the influence of their gravity and form young stars, the water ends up in the disks around them at the end." Ultimately, as the disks evolve and the icy dust grains coagulate to form a new solar system with planets and comets.

“We have shown that the water that is produced in the clouds follows this path almost unchanged,” says Margot Lemker, an astronomer at Leiden University and a co-author on the paper. So, by looking at the water in the disk of the star (V883 Orionis), we are looking back. In time, we see how our solar system began when it was much younger."