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. In PressSubject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1038/s41550-024-02207-w