The James Webb Space Telescope has detected the presence of water in the inner disk around a young star where giant planets have already formed further away. According to a report by Nature on Monday (July 24), this research took place within the MINDS collaboration.

The James Webb Space Telescope has detected the presence of water in the inner disk around a young star where giant planets have already formed further away. According to a report by Nature on Monday (July 24), this research took place within the MINDS collaboration. This is the first sighting of water at a stage when the disk has already lost most of its material. And as per a report by Radboud University, any rocky planet arising in the inner disk would benefit from a significant local water reservoir and increases the likelihood of ‘habitability’ at a later stage. "Terrestrial and sub-Neptune planets are expected to form in the inner (less than 10 AU) regions of protoplanetary disks," the Nature report on Monday said, adding, water plays an important role in their formation but it is unclear whether water molecules are formed in situ or transported from the outer disk. Observations detect water near centre of inner disk The observations with the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) aboard the James Webb Space Telescope detected water near the centre of the disk, close to its parent star PDS 70, which is approximately 370 light years away from Earth. This is the region in the solar system where rocky planets orbit the sun. Analysis showed that the water is hot vapour at a temperature of no less than 230 degrees Celsius. Thomas Henning, the co-author of the paper, said that the discovery is exciting as it involves the region where rocky planets like Earth normally form. Previous studies found no water in the central regions of disks that evolved similarly. “The inner edges of evolved and low-dust disks may not be as dry as we previously thought. If this is true, many terrestrial planets arising in these zones could well be born with a key ingredient that makes life possible,” Rens Waters from Radboud University, who is also the co-author of the study, said. The MINDS collaboration is probing investigating different scenarios to explain their findings. Astronomer Giulia Perotti, who is the lead author of the research, said, "We may now have found evidence that water could also serve as one of the first ingredients of rocky planets and be available immediately after their birth." Till now, no planets have so far been found near the centre of the PDS 70 disk. Astronomers earlier discovered two gas giants further away: PDS 70 b and c. And as they grew, these planets accumulated dust and gas as they orbited their parent star, creating a wide ring-shaped gap containing almost no observable material. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Webb Telescope detects presence of water in inner disk around young star: Research

One of the significant findings of India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission was to detect the presence of water on the moon’s surface. A probe onboard India’s Chandrayaan-2 orbiter (second lunar mission) has not only validated the breakthrough made by its predecessor but also paved the way for future lunar exploration.&nbsp;

According to ISRO scientists who were associated with both the Lunar projects, the data from Chandrayaan-2 would be used to build a lunar water map, which would further aid upcoming missions to the moon.&nbsp;

The initial evidence for surface water came from the NASA-provided Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) experiment carried on the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. While this payload from NASA also detected evidence of water at the lunar poles, its finding was under question, owing to the limited wavelength that M3 (an imaging spectrometer) covered. The basic function of a Spectrometer is to take in light (reflected from a surface) and provide a graph of the output. However, in the case of the M3, its wavelength of 0.7 to 3 microns was not sufficient to ascertain and affirm the detection of water on the moon.

"With M3, we had reached the tip of the iceberg, but we needed double and triple confirmation. In a breakthrough for us, the data from the old M3 sensor and the new Chandrayaan 2 sensor matched. The orbiter of Chandrayaan-2 has a 5 micron (wider) spectrometer, hence it unambiguously confirms the findings of Chandrayaan-1, "Dr Mylswamy Annadurai, Former Director of ISRO’s UR Rao Satellite Center, told WION.&nbsp;

He added that, with its nearly 7-year long mission life, the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter (in lunar orbit since Sept 2019) has the potential to create a moon terrain map that depicts the rocks, craters, ice deposits, water traces etc. Fondly known as India's ‘Moon Man ’, Dr Annadurai expressed hope that such a lunar map would help upcoming Indian lunar exploration missions and eventually the larger global scientific community.&nbsp;

"The spectrometer on Chandrayaan-2 can detect the presence of water (H2O) molecules and also measure the 
Oxygen-Hydrogen atoms are held together as Hydroxide (OH). In the new spectrometer images, the dips on the graph are visible, DR. A S Kiran Kumar, former Chairman of ISRO, told WION.&nbsp;

According to him, the separation of wavelengths in the 3.1 and 3.2-micron regions helped distinguish between water and hydrogen.&nbsp;

Water is detected as water molecules and hydroxides are found in minerals and hydrates. ISRO’s orbiter can map almost the entire moon (from its 100km altitude orbit) and more data can be collected from repeated observations, he adds. This offers good prospects for scientific analysis and studies, given that water (H2O) and hydroxide (OH) don’t exist in isolation on the lunar surface. Generally, water is found in the molecule form, whereas hydroxides are found as moisture in minerals and hydrates.

India’s second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2 (launched in 2019), was only partially successful, as the lander ‘Vikram’ could not descend on the South Pole of the moon, as intended. Instead, the lander and the rover housed in it crashed landed, thus denying the opportunity to conduct a short-term, on-surface analysis. However, the orbiter, which circles the moon at an altitude of 100km and an approximate speed of 1km/s, continues to function and is expected to function for many more years. India’s first lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, was launched in 2008 and it functioned for almost a year before communication was lost with the orbiter.&nbsp;

One of the significant findings of India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission was to detect the presence of water on the moon’s surface. A probe onboard India’s Chandrayaan-2 orbiter (second lunar mission) has not only validated the breakthrough made by its predecessor but also paved the way for future lunar exploration.

One of the significant findings of India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission was to detect the presence of water on the moon’s surface. A probe onboard India’s Chandrayaan-2 orbiter (second lunar mission) has not only validated the breakthrough made by its predecessor but also paved the way for future lunar exploration. According to ISRO scientists who were associated with both the Lunar projects, the data from Chandrayaan-2 would be used to build a lunar water map, which would further aid upcoming missions to the moon. The initial evidence for surface water came from the NASA-provided Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) experiment carried on the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. While this payload from NASA also detected evidence of water at the lunar poles, its finding was under question, owing to the limited wavelength that M3 (an imaging spectrometer) covered. The basic function of a Spectrometer is to take in light (reflected from a surface) and provide a graph of the output. However, in the case of the M3, its wavelength of 0.7 to 3 microns was not sufficient to ascertain and affirm the detection of water on the moon. "With M3, we had reached the tip of the iceberg, but we needed double and triple confirmation. In a breakthrough for us, the data from the old M3 sensor and the new Chandrayaan 2 sensor matched. The orbiter of Chandrayaan-2 has a 5 micron (wider) spectrometer, hence it unambiguously confirms the findings of Chandrayaan-1, "Dr Mylswamy Annadurai, Former Director of ISRO’s UR Rao Satellite Center, told WION. He added that, with its nearly 7-year long mission life, the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter (in lunar orbit since Sept 2019) has the potential to create a moon terrain map that depicts the rocks, craters, ice deposits, water traces etc. Fondly known as India's ‘Moon Man ’, Dr Annadurai expressed hope that such a lunar map would help upcoming Indian lunar exploration missions and eventually the larger global scientific community. "The spectrometer on Chandrayaan-2 can detect the presence of water (H2O) molecules and also measure the Oxygen-Hydrogen atoms are held together as Hydroxide (OH). In the new spectrometer images, the dips on the graph are visible, DR. A S Kiran Kumar, former Chairman of ISRO, told WION. According to him, the separation of wavelengths in the 3.1 and 3.2-micron regions helped distinguish between water and hydrogen. Water is detected as water molecules and hydroxides are found in minerals and hydrates. ISRO’s orbiter can map almost the entire moon (from its 100km altitude orbit) and more data can be collected from repeated observations, he adds. This offers good prospects for scientific analysis and studies, given that water (H2O) and hydroxide (OH) don’t exist in isolation on the lunar surface. Generally, water is found in the molecule form, whereas hydroxides are found as moisture in minerals and hydrates. India’s second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2 (launched in 2019), was only partially successful, as the lander ‘Vikram’ could not descend on the South Pole of the moon, as intended. Instead, the lander and the rover housed in it crashed landed, thus denying the opportunity to conduct a short-term, on-surface analysis. However, the orbiter, which circles the moon at an altitude of 100km and an approximate speed of 1km/s, continues to function and is expected to function for many more years. India’s first lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, was launched in 2008 and it functioned for almost a year before communication was lost with the orbiter.

Chandrayaan-2: India’s orbiter validates earlier finding of water on the lunar surface

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Webb Telescope detects presence of water in inner disk around young star: Research

Chandrayaan-2: India’s orbiter validates earlier finding of water on the lunar surface