Far out cosmology: making a planet with water (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, November 11, 2023, 17:13 (168 days ago) @ David Turell

The icy pebble drift theory confirmed:

https://www.sciencealert.com/jwst-may-have-finally-confirmed-how-planets-take-shape

"JWST data processed by an international team of researchers backs up the theory of 'icy pebble drift', which is thought to be vital in bringing together the dust and rocks that eventually turn into planets like our own.

"Simply put, icy pebble drift works like this: as tiny, ice-covered bits of material bump together in the outer reaches of a young protoplanetary disk they lose momentum, allowing them to fall towards the star into a warmer zone where their frozen coating sublimates.

"It's from this ring of fine debris and water vapor that rocky planets form, effectively serving as a delivery service of building materials right across a newborn solar system.

'As neat as the idea was, studies of distant starlight that could indicate the position of that water vapor have so far been too blurry to conclusively say for certain whether this drift of icy pebbles takes place at all.

***

"What the new research shows is that icy materials can indeed move across protoplanetary disks, though it happens more easily on compact disks.

"'In the past, we had this very static picture of planet formation, almost like there were these isolated zones that planets formed out of," says planetary scientist Colette Salyk from Vassar College.

"'Now we actually have evidence that these zones can interact with each other. It's also something that is proposed to have happened in our Solar System."

"By comparing the data from both compact and extended disks, the team was able to see more water vapor collected at the 'snowline' of the compact disk, where icy pebbles should lose a lot more vapor.

"That backs up the idea that building materials can move inward across the disk, a phenomenon that is more efficient in compact disks where large gaps don't need to be traversed. As the sublimating stream of pebbles continue to snow down from the beyond, they provide both solids and water to create the seeds of a new planet, so the theory goes."

Comment: Another use for water as ice, just adding to the evidence as to how important water is not just for life but for making the universe's parts. Hydrogen and oxygen were among the earliest elements to appear. Then magical water. Pure evidence for purpose in design.