Water in the terrestrial planet-forming zone of the PDS 70 disk
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2023

Terrestrial and sub-Neptune planets are expected to form in the inner (less than 10 au) regions of protoplanetary disks 1. Water plays a key role in their formation 2–4, although it is yet unclear whether water molecules are formed in situ or transported from the outer disk 5,6. So far Spitzer Space Telescope observations have only provided water luminosity upper limits for dust-depleted inner disks 7, similar to PDS 70, the first system with direct confirmation of protoplanet presence 8,9. Here we report JWST observations of PDS 70, a benchmark target to search for water in a disk hosting a large (approximately 54 au) planet-carved gap separating an inner and outer disk 10,11. Our findings show water in the inner disk of PDS 70. This implies that potential terrestrial planets forming therein have access to a water reservoir. The column densities of water vapour suggest in-situ formation via a reaction sequence involving O, H2 and/or OH, and survival through water self-shielding 5. This is also supported by the presence of CO2 emission, another molecule sensitive to ultraviolet photodissociation. Dust shielding, and replenishment of both gas and small dust from the outer disk, may also play a role in sustaining the water reservoir 12. Our observations also reveal a strong variability of the mid-infrared spectral energy distribution, pointing to a change of inner disk geometry.

Författare

G. Perotti

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Valentin Christiaens

Universite de Liège

T. Henning

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Benoît Tabone

Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

Lbfm Waters

Radboud Universiteit

Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)

I. Kamp

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

G. Olofsson

Stockholms universitet

Sierra L. Grant

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Danny Gasman

KU Leuven

J. Bouwman

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Matthias Samland

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

R. Franceschi

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

E. F. van Dishoeck

Universiteit Leiden

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Kamber Schwarz

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

M. Gudel

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Universität Wien

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)

P. O. Lagage

Université Paris-Saclay

Tom Ray

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies

B. Vandenbussche

KU Leuven

Alain Abergel

Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

O. Absil

Universite de Liège

Aditya M. Arabhavi

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Ioannis Argyriou

KU Leuven

D. Barrado

Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)

Anthony Boccaletti

Observatoire de Paris

A. Caratti o. Garatti

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies

Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte

V. C. Geers

Royal Observatory

A. M. Glauser

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)

Kay Justtanont

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Astronomi och plasmafysik

F. Lahuis

Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)

M. Mueller

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Cyrine Nehmé

Université Paris-Saclay

E. Pantin

Université Paris-Saclay

S. Scheithauer

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

C. Waelkens

KU Leuven

Rodrigo Guadarrama

Universität Wien

Hyerin Jang

Radboud Universiteit

Jayatee Kanwar

Institut fur Weltraumforschung

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Technische Universität Graz

M. Morales-Calderon

Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)

Nicole Pawellek

Universität Wien

Donna Rodgers-Lee

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies

J. Schreiber

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

L. Colina

Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)

T. R. Greve

Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DTU)

G. Östlin

The Oskar Klein Centre

G. Wright

Royal Observatory

Nature

0028-0836 (ISSN) 1476-4687 (eISSN)

Vol. 620 7974 516-520

Ämneskategorier

Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi

DOI

10.1038/s41586-023-06317-9

PubMed

37488359

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2024-03-07