Resolved ALMA observations of water in the inner astronomical units of the HL Tau disk
Journal article, 2024

The water molecule is a key ingredient in the formation of planetary systems, with the water snowline being a favourable location for the growth of massive planetary cores. Here we present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array data of the ringed protoplanetary disk orbiting the young star HL Tauri that show centrally peaked, bright emission arising from three distinct transitions of the main water isotopologue (H216O). The spatially and spectrally resolved water content probes gas in a thermal range down to the water sublimation temperature. Our analysis implies a stringent lower limit of 3.7 Earth oceans of water vapour available within the inner 17 astronomical units of the system. We show that our observations are limited to probing the water content in the atmosphere of the disk, due to the high dust column density and absorption, and indicate that the main water isotopologue is the best tracer to spatially resolve water vapour in protoplanetary disks.

Author

S. Facchini

University of Milan

Leonardo Testi

University of Bologna

E. Humphreys

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Atacama Large Millimeter-submillimeter Array (ALMA)

European Southern Observatory Santiago

Mathieu Vander Donckt

University of Liège

Andrea Isella

Rice University

Ramon Wrzosek

Rice University

A. Baudry

Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux

M. Gray

National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand

A.M.S. Richards

University of Manchester

Wouter Vlemmings

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics

Nature Astronomy

23973366 (eISSN)

Vol. 8 5 587-595

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

DOI

10.1038/s41550-024-02207-w

More information

Latest update

6/1/2024 4