Water ice in the debris disk around HD 181327

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Xie, Chen; Chen, Christine H.; Lisse, Carey M.; Hines, Dean C.; Beck, Tracy; Betti, Sarah K.; Pinilla-Alonso, Noemi; Ingebretsen, Carl; Worthen, Kadin; Gaspar, Andras; Wolff, Schuyler G.; Bolin, Bryce T.; Pueyo, Laurent; Perrin, Marshall D.; Stansberry, John A.; Leisenring, Jarron M.
• 署名单位: Johns Hopkins University; Space Telescope Science Institute; Johns Hopkins University; Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; University of Oviedo; State University System of Florida; University of Central Florida; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; Eureka Scientific
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-2345
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08920-4
• 发表日期: 2025-05-15
• 关键词: dust; surface; stars; gas; spectroscopy; particles; radiation; emission; grains; sample

摘要

Debris disks are exoplanetary systems that contain planets, minor bodies (asteroids, Kuiper belt objects, comets and so on) and micrometre-sized debris dust1. Because water ice is the most common frozen volatile, it plays an essential role in the formation of planets2,3 and minor bodies. Although water ice has been commonly found in Kuiper belt objects and comets in the Solar System4, no definitive evidence for water ice in debris disks has been obtained to date1. Here we report the discovery of water ice in the HD 181327 debris disk using the near-infrared spectrograph onboard the James Webb Space Telescope. We detected the solid-state broad absorption feature of water ice at 3 mu m including a distinct Fresnel peak at 3.1 mu m, which is indicative of large, crystalline water-ice particles. Gradients in the water-ice feature as a function of stellocentric distance reveal a dynamic environment in which water ice is destroyed and replenished. We estimated the water-ice mass fractions as ranging from 0.1% at approximately 85 au to 21% at approximately 113 au, indicating the presence of a water-ice reservoir in the HD 181327 disk beyond the snow line. The icy bodies that release water ice in HD 181327 are probably the extra-solar counterparts of water-ice-rich Kuiper belt objects in our Solar System.