The first water may have been brought to our planet by a comet. Now, James Webb is investigating comets to see if they could carry water vapor.
As wild as it might sound, scientists have a theory that water on Earth didn’t actually originate here: the first water may have been brought to our planet by a comet. To understand whether that is the case, astronomers look to the comets commonly found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and recent research using the James Webb Space Telescope has identified a clue in this long-standing mystery.
That helps astronomers understand how water could have arrived on Earth. “Our water-soaked world, teeming with life and unique in the universe as far as we know, is something of a mystery – we’re not sure how all this water got here,” explained one of the researchers, Stefanie Milam, in a statement. “Understanding the history of water distribution in the solar system will help us to understand other planetary systems, and if they could be on their way to hosting an Earth-like planet.
However, there was something odd about the data from this comet. While the results showed water vapor was present, there wasn’t any carbon dioxide detected, which had been expected. Comets usually carry around 10% carbon dioxide, so it’s odd not to find any. It might be that the comet formed in an unusually warm area where carbon dioxide wasn’t present, or it could be that the comet used to have carbon dioxide but lost it over time as it warmed.
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