Spanish
Oviedo (Spain).- An investigation led by research assistant scientist at Johns Hopkins University Chen Xie detected for the first time the presence of crystalline water ice outside the solar system through an observation made with the James Webb Space Telescope.
The study, in which the University of Oviedo (Spain) collaborated, definitively confirms the existence of this element in a solid state in a solar system 155 million light-years from Earth, something that astronomers had long suspected based on previous detections in its gaseous form and its presence in a frozen state on nearby planets.
Researchers clarified that the term water ice specifies its composition, as many other frozen molecules are also observed in space, such as carbon dioxide or dry ice, as reported by the University of Oviedo in a statement.
The water ice was detected in crystalline form, mixed with fine dust, in an active system in which icy bodies collide, releasing particles detectable by the James Webb telescope, and it was found that in the coldest areas of the disk, the ice reaches over twenty percent of the observed material.
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According to researchers, water ice is a vital ingredient in the disks that surround young stars, since it greatly influences the formation of giant planets and can be delivered by small bodies such as comets and asteroids to rocky planets already formed.
In this new finding, which has just been published in journal Nature, researcher Noemí Pinilla-Alonso from the University of Oviedo at the Institute of Space Sciences and Technologies of Asturias (ICTEA) participated.
Pinilla explained that this finding confirms that "the processes that affect icy bodies in the confines of planetary systems could be common in the universe" and underlined its relevance for understanding the thermal and dynamic history of these systems.
