Detection of the Water Reservoir in a Forming Planetary System

2011/10/20 by M. R. Hogerheijde, Michiel R. Hogerheijde, Edwin A. Bergin +22 · 8 citations
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrobiology #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Biology #Chemistry #Environmental science #Geology #Petroleum engineering #Physics #Planet #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Water ice #Water reservoir #Water vapor #astro-ph.EP #astro-ph.SR

paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/science.1208931

published as Science 6054 (2011), 338 · 18 pages, 2 figures. Corrected typo in reported mass (in g) of detected water vapor reservoir. All conclusions are unchanged

openalex publication_date 2011/10/20 · arxiv created 2011/10/24 · arxiv updated 2015/05/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Icy bodies may have delivered the oceans to the early Earth, yet little is known about water in the ice-dominated regions of extrasolar planet-forming disks. The Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared on board the Herschel Space Observatory has detected emission lines from both spin isomers of cold water vapor from the disk around the young star TW Hydrae. This water vapor likely originates from ice-coated solids near the disk surface, hinting at a water ice reservoir equivalent to several thousand Earth oceans in mass. The water's ortho-to-para ratio falls well below that of solar system comets, suggesting that comets contain heterogeneous ice mixtures collected across the entire solar nebula during the early stages of planetary birth.

Citations

• Evidence for a Developing Gap in a 10 Myr Old Protoplanetary Disk
• Flaring vs. self-shadowed disks: The SEDs of Herbig Ae/Be stars
• Herschel-PACS observation of the 10 Myr old T Tauri disk TW Hya

Cited by

• JWST-DECO: The Impact of Accretion on Mid-Infrared Observable Water in Planet-forming Disks
• The efficient photodesorption of nitric oxide (NO) ices A laboratory astrophysics study
• Astrochemistry of dust, ice and gas: introduction and overview
• VELOCITY-RESOLVED HOT WATER EMISSION DETECTED TOWARD HL TAU WITH THE SUBMILLIMETER ARRAY
• The Role of C/O in Nitrile Astrochemistry in PDRs and Planet-forming Disks
• The TW Hya Rosetta Stone Project IV: A Hydrocarbon-rich Disk Atmosphere
• Gas kinematics of key prebiotic molecules in GV Tau N revealed with an ALMA, PdBI, and Herschel synergy
• Detection of HC18O+ in a Protoplanetary Disk: Exploring Oxygen Isotope Fractionation of CO

Related

• Pristine ices in a planet-forming disk revealed by heavy water
• Was Earth's water acquired locally during the earliest phases of the Solar System formation?
• The ancient heritage of water ice in the solar system
• Water ice in the debris disk around HD 181327
• Water: from clouds to planets