by Jenny L.Nielsen
In just one day, the Orion Nebula could produce enough water to fill the Earth's oceans 60 times over.
At least that's what David Neufield, professor of astronomy and physics at Baltimore's John Hopkins University, claims. Professor Neufield is one of many U.S. astronomers using the European Space Agency's
Infrared Space Observatory to
study a recently discovered "water vapor factory" within the Orion Nebula, a gigantic cloud of gas and dust in the sword of the constellation Orion where new baby stars--and thus future solar
systems--are being born at this very moment.
This water vapor factory is 1,500 light years from Earth, but the astronomers on the team believe that it may help explain the origin of water in our own solar system. Dr. Neufield says that, "Although we have only detected this sort of phenomenon in a single source, it seems quite possible it's a widespread phenomenon."
Where exactly does all this water come from?
As Gary Melnick of the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics puts it, "The Molecular Cloud [in Orion] is a site of particularly active star formation within our galaxy...For reasons not
entirely understood, when stars are born, their birth is accompanied by a strong outward wind of gas and dust. When this outflowing material
impacts the surrounding gas, the shock waves that are created compress and heat the gas. The water we observe is rapidly produced in this warm, dense gas."
According to this theory, water should be produced just about anywhere star birth is going on. Scientists are now theorizing that all the water on Earth and in our solar system may have been born in a water factory just like the one in
Orion.
But there are further reaching implications. Recent findings from astronomers the world over indicate that many stars in our universe have
several planets orbitting around them to form a solar system much like our own. Scientists now believe it is possible for these planets to obtain vast amounts of water from the water vapor cloud that forms around young stars.
Could it be that solar systems are often, if not always, born into existance, harboring great amounts of the single-most important
component to life? If so, the chances of locating Earth-like life forms in outer space have increased a lot.
So, next time you're outside looking at a starry sky, think of this: the chances have just gone up
that way out there, on a planet revolving around one of those stars, an intelligent space alien is looking down at you!
(c) 2002 Jennifer Nielsen
All Rights Reserved