2024-03-08 ライス大学
＜関連情報＞
- https://news.rice.edu/news/2024/astronomers-find-water-vapor-distant-stars-habitable-zone
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02207-w
アルマ望遠鏡によるHLタウ星円盤の内部天文単位における水の分解観測 Resolved ALMA observations of water in the inner astronomical units of the HL Tau disk
Stefano Facchini,Leonardo Testi,Elizabeth Humphreys,Mathieu Vander Donckt,Andrea Isella,Ramon Wrzosek,Alain Baudry,Malcom D. Gray,Anita M. S. Richards & Wouter Vlemmmings
Nature Astronomy Published:29 February 2024
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02207-w
Abstract
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 (H162O). 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.
