Water Found Around Nearby Star CW Leonis
Explanation:
Do worlds outside our
Solar System have
oceans of water like Earth?
An indication that such worlds might exist was
bolstered recently by new
evidence that nearby star system
CW Leonis harbors water.
Recent observations with the
Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite
(SWAS) found significant detections of light at
specific colors emitted by water.
A
hypothesis quickly arose that the activity of the
central star is vaporizing water from a cloud of
comets
that surrounds the star -- a cloud that may be similar to the
Kuiper Belt of comets that surrounds our own
Sun.
The
above drawing depicts the
CW Leonis system with its
hypothesized cloud of
water-bearing comets situated to a ring.
The closest
comets are depicted as showing
tails rich in
water vapor pointing away from the star.
Far from the central star, however,
comets
should not show significant tails and should be
more sparsely spaced.
The central star, also known as
IRC+10216, is an aging
giant star located about 500
light-years away toward the
constellation of
Leo.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
