Overview
- Using ALMA, astronomers identified doubly deuterated water (D2O) in the protoplanetary disk around the young star V883 Orionis in the first such detection.
- The observed D2O-to-H2O ratios trace formation in very cold environments, showing the water predates the central star.
- The finding links ancient interstellar ices to material in planet-forming disks, bolstering the view that comets and possibly Earth inherit primordial water.
- The research, led by Margot Leemker with co-author John Tobin, is published in Nature Astronomy.
- Follow-up surveys are planned to determine how widespread this interstellar inheritance of water is across other planetary systems.