Is there frozen water just floating around in outer space like 'dirty snowballs'?
According to the space agency, scientists have confirmed the presence of ice around HD 181327, a star that is similar to our Sun.
The giant star is located about 155 light-years away from Earth and is thought to be around 23 million years old – much younger than the 4.6-billion-year-old Sun.
But similar to our solar system's star, HD 181327 is surrounded by a large, dusty debris and that is where scientists say the ice exists.
Previous research had suggested the presence of frozen water, but its potential existence wasn't solidified until after the Webb became operational.
"Webb unambiguously detected not just water ice, but crystalline water ice, which is also found in locations like Saturn's rings and icy bodies in our solar system's Kuiper Belt," Chen Xie, the lead author of the new paper and an assistant research scientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, said in a statement.
See The Objects Humans Left Behind On The Moon
Scientists described the ice as resembling dirty snowballs and published an artist rendering of what the phenomenon would look like if an astronaut had a front-row seat to the icy belt.
As any novice would surmise, the debris disk is said to vary in water ice thickness, from being heavily populated to non-existent the closer you move to the star.
"In the area of the debris disk closest to the star, Webb detected almost none. It's likely that the star's ultraviolet light vaporizes the closest specks of water ice. It's also possible that rocks known as planetesimals have "locked up" frozen water in their interiors, which Webb can't detect," NASA stated.
Why is finding ice so important? It may lead to planet formation and bring together the origins of life.
"The presence of water ice helps facilitate planet formation," Xie stated. "Icy materials may also ultimately be 'delivered' to terrestrial planets that may form over a couple hundred million years in systems like this."
Water ice has already been observed in numerous locations within our solar system, including on Mercury, Mars, Saturn, our Moon, other planets' moons, and the Kuiper Belt.
Scientists say what Webb has not picked up on yet are planets around HD 181327, which could be for various reasons, including the infancy of the distant solar system.
Future Of Nasa's Mega Moon Rocket Appears In Doubt Following Major Boeing Announcement
The Webb is nearing four years in space and has already beamed back stunning images that far surpass the quality of imagery produced by the Hubble and other older telescopes.
NASA believes operations of the James Webb Space Telescope have exceeded expectations, and the space observatory could easily exceed its expected 10-year lifespan.Original article source: Is there frozen water just floating around in outer space like 'dirty snowballs'?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
21 minutes ago
- UPI
SpaceX set to launch NASA TRACERS mission
July 22 (UPI) -- NASA's TRACERS mission is set to launch on Tuesday on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from California. The TRACERS mission aims to "help understand magnetic reconnection and its effects in Earth's atmosphere." The mission's launch window opens at 11:13 a.m. PDT with a 57-minute window from the Vandenberg Space Force Base's Space Launch Complex 4 East. "About eight minutes after liftoff, Falcon 9's first stage will land on SpaceX's Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California," said a release from SpaceX. "There is the possibility that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties may hear one or more sonic booms during the landing, but what residents experience will depend on weather and other conditions." NASA will also send three payloads, the Athena EPIC, the Polylingual Experimental Terminal and the Relativistic Electron Atmospheric Loss with the mission. There is also a backup opportunity for the launch on Wednesday at the same time.
Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
Blocks all stacked for NASA's future Artemis tower at KSC
There's still more than a year's worth of work to do on NASA's future Artemis launch tower at Kennedy Space Center, but all of the big pieces have been put in place. The last of seven modular steel blocks that make up the bulk of the tower's height was put into place on July 2 by the tower's contractor Bechtel. The block called Mod 10 brings it to 377 feet tall from the base structure. "This achievement underscores our ongoing partnership with NASA and local unions, and the team's steady progress toward safe delivery of this critical infrastructure," the company said in an emailed statement. Progress has been tracked on the company's website with the latest addition dubbed "Reaching the Top." Mod 4 was the first of the seven blocks put in place on Jan. 3, growing the structure 272 feet in less than six months. Mod 10 will support the Crew Access Arm for ML-2, which is among the parts that have yet to be assembled before the company's deadline of November 2026 for delivery to NASA. ML-2 is designed for use on a larger version of NASA's Space Launch System rocket, which won't fly until at least the Artemis IV mission on NASA's roadmap in late 2028. The first three Artemis missions have or will use the ML-1, which was converted from use from NASA's defunct Constellation program. Artemis I was the first launch of SLS, an uncrewed test flight that sent Orion out to the moon and back. Artemis II will be the first crewed flight of Orion, looking to send four astronauts on a trip around the moon without landing no later than April 2026. Artemis III looks to return humans to the moon for the first time since the end of the Apollo program in 1972. That mission, which is reliant on the completion of SpaceX's in-development Starship as a human landing system as well as new spacesuits from Axiom Space, is targeting launch by summer 2027. Whether or not ML-2 would ever be used was in question as President Donald Trump's proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 sought to end the SLS rocket program as well as the Orion spacecraft, Gateway lunar space station and NASA's Exploration Ground Systems team based at KSC after the flight of Artemis III. But Congress, led by an effort from Sen. Ted Cruz, was able add more than $10 billion in this year's "Big, Beautiful Bill" to save SLS for both the fourth and fifth launches of Artemis as well as set aside money for Orion and Gateway. Both versions of the Senate and House budget bills for 2026, moreover, look to keep funding for Artemis' existing programs in place. Congress is the ultimate decider of what the federal budget will look like, although without an agreement, it's possible NASA will simply continue with funding based on current levels with continuing resolutions. Still, with funds already set aside, work continued in earnest to get ML-2 ready for the fourth Artemis flight. It's supposed to fly the first part of the Gateway station, and would use the larger version of SLS called the Block 1B that has more payload capacity. It too would feature a rendezvous and moon landing with Starship. The Artemis V mission is supposed to be the first flight to use Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander instead of Starship. NASA will still need to perform about a year's worth of tests and added work after Bechtel hands it off in 2026. The ML2 project, which was initially a $383 million contract awarded in 2019, had an original delivery date of 2023. A NASA Office of Inspector General audit released in August 2024 said the costs had already nearly tripled to more than $1 billion with the delivery date pushed into late 2026. It's part of the growing costs and delays associated with all facets of the Artemis program. In 2023, the OIG said by the time Artemis III flies, the program will have topped $93 billion in costs since it was originally announced in 2012. -------------- Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
NASA Reports Plane-Sized Asteroid Nearing Earth
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. NASA is monitoring an airplane-sized asteroid that is expected to zoom past the Earth on July 28 at a zippy 46,908 miles per hour. The space rock—known as 2025 OW—is estimated to be about 210 feet across and will make its closest approach to our next Monday, at a distance of around 393,000 miles, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). But 2025 OW isn't the only asteroid approaching us in the coming days. NASA is also tracking another airplane-sized space rock known as 2025 OX, which is estimated to be about 110 feet across, and will fly past the Earth on July 26 at a distance of 2,810,000 miles. Three more aircraft-sized space rocks are also expected to pass by Earth in the next few weeks. On July 28, asteroid 2018 BE5 will make its closest approach at a distance of just 2,580,000 miles; 2025 OR will pass within 3,040,000 miles on July 31; and, next month, 2019 CO1 will get within 4,240,000 miles of our home. A stock image shows an asteroid making a close approach to our planet. A stock image shows an asteroid making a close approach to our planet. getty images According to NASA, asteroids are inactive bodies made of all the rocky, dusty and metallic materials left behind from the formation of our solar system. They are mainly concentrated within the main asteroid belt, orbiting around the sun between the paths of Mars and Jupiter, though some may end up in the inner solar system. Asteroids of various sizes can pose different levels of threat to our planet. Small ones around 30 feet impact Earth about once in a decade, causing a very bright fireball, and a strong sonic boom. They may sometimes also break nearby windows. Space rocks measuring 160 feet and over can cause local devastation and leave a crater. Thankfully, they only impact Earth about in 1,000 years. Depending on the impact location, larger space rocks—those that measure in at over 500 feet across—can cause deaths across populated metro areas and states, says NASA. Fortunately, they only hit the Earth around every 20,000 years. Asteroids that could cause global devastation are those measuring 3,000 feet and above. These rocks hit the Earth every 700,000 years, and can potentially cause the collapse of civilization. Rocks that measure over six miles across only impact our planet every 100 million years, but they can cause devastation across the planet, and are likely to also cause mass extinctions of life. Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about asteroids? Let us know via science@
