Artist’s rendition comparing two types of traditional, planet-forming disks orbiting newborn, Sun-like stars, a compact disk (left), and an extended disk with gaps (right), which were the basis for this study. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI))

In the end, MIRI revealed the compact disks exhibited larger amounts of cooler water than the extended disks, which is a finding the researchers were expecting, and that the cooler water results from ice evaporating as the pebbles travel farther inward towards their parent star. While the researchers found the initial data confusing, once they overlaid it with data from the extended disks, they found the compact disks contained large amounts of water inside the snow line.

Graphic depicting data from Webb’s MIRI, which is sensitive to water vapor in disks showing the contrast between pebble drift and water content in a compact disk compared to extended disk with rings and gaps. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI))

This finding is profound as, aside from Earth, the three other rocky planets, Mercury, Venus, and Mars, are completely devoid of water. Present research postulates that water is typically swallowed up by larger planets, leaving the rocky planets water-poor, but this discovery could open allow for the formation of planets closer to their stars to contain much larger volumes of water than previously thought.

“For two months, we were stuck on these preliminary results that were telling us that the compact disks had colder water, and the large disks had hotter water overall,” said Dr. Banzatti. “This made no sense because we had selected a sample of stars with very similar temperatures. Now we finally see unambiguously that it is the colder water that has an excess. This is unprecedented and entirely due to Webb’s higher resolving power!”

The researchers note this new discovery could open doors for further exploring the chemistry of planetary formation within inner disks using JWST.

What new discoveries will researchers make about planetary formation in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!

As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!