One of the big open questions about Earth and how life formed here is where the planet’s water came from. Water is essential to life as we know it, but many scientists think that water did not originally form on Earth — rather, it may have been carried here by asteroids. Recently, though, astronomers have discovered water vapor in the planet-forming region of a star, suggesting that future planets which form here might have access to water right from the start.
“We’ve seen water in other disks, but not so close in and in a system where planets are currently assembling. We couldn’t make this type of measurement before Webb,” said lead author Giulia Perotti of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in a statement. Scientists are interested in where this water came from and how it was able to survive the turbulent environment close to the star. The young star gives off ultraviolet light, which usually destroys water molecules. In this case, the water vapor was among dust and other material which may have protected the water molecules and acted like a shield.