April 3, 2012

Herschel hunts the water near us in the Universe

After more than thirty months of operations for the European satellite Herschel, the colloquium "From atoms to pebbles: Herschel's view of Star and Planet formation" went back over the mission contributions to our knowledge of the planetary systems formation mechanismes. One major discovery is the omnipresence of the water in the stars and planets formation areas, all of which pointing towards a spatial origin of water on Earth.

Observation de l'eau dans la proto-étoile massive W43-MM1 superposée à une image de la région. En blanc est montré le signal de l'eau en un point. Sur la carte, la concentration de l'eau augmente vers le centre de l'objet.
Observation of warter in the massive proto-star W43-MM1 surimposed on an image of the area.
In white is shown the water signal of one point.
On the map, the water concentration increase towards the center of the object.

Read the complete Press Release (in French).