Astonishing Discovery Reveals Water in Our Solar System May Have Originated Billions of Years Before the Sun

History of Water in Planet Formation

V883 Ori is a remarkable protostar that boasts a temperature that is just hot enough for converting water in its circumstellar disk into gas. This gas can be studied by radio astronomers to trace the origins of the water. Recently, ALMA observations have verified that the water in our own Solar System may have the same source as the water found in disks surrounding protostars in other parts of the Universe – the interstellar medium. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

ALMA Traces History of Water in Planet Formation Back to the Interstellar Medium

Observations of water in the disk forming around protostar V883 Ori have unlocked clues about the formation of comets and planetesimals in our own Solar System.

Scientists studying a nearby protostar have detected the presence of water in its circumstellar disk. The new observations made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) mark the first detection of water being inherited into a protoplanetary disk without significant changes to its composition. These results further suggest that the water in our Solar System formed billions of years before the Sun. The new observations were published on March 8 in the journal Nature.

Water in Planet-Forming Disc Around V883 Orionis

This artist’s impression shows the planet-forming disc around the star V883 Orionis. In the outermost part of the disc water is frozen out as ice and therefore can’t be easily detected. An outburst of energy from the star heats the inner disc to a temperature where water is gaseous, enabling astronomers to detect it.
The inset image shows the two kinds of water molecules studied in this disc: normal water, with one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms, and a heavier version where one hydrogen atom is replaced with deuterium, a heavy isotope of hydrogen.
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

V883 Orionis is a protostar located roughly 1,305 light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion. The new observations of this protostar have helped scientists to find a probable link between the water in the interstellar medium and the water in our Solar System by confirming they have similar composition.

Water Ice Turned to Gas in V883 Ori

V883 Ori is a unique protostar whose temperature is just hot enough that the water in its circumstellar disk has turned to gas, making it possible for radio astronomers to trace the water’s origins. New observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have provided the first confirmation that the water in our Solar System may come from the same place as the water in disks surrounding protostars elsewhere in the Universe: the interstellar medium. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

“We can think of the path of water through the Universe as a trail. We know what the endpoints look like, which are water on planets and in comets, but we wanted to trace that trail back to the origins of water,” said John Tobin, an astronomer at the National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the lead author on the new paper. “Before now, we could link the Earth to comets, and protostars to the interstellar medium, but we couldn’t link protostars to comets. V883 Ori has changed that, and proven the water molecules in that system and in our Solar System have a similar ratio of deuterium and hydrogen.”


Using ALMA, astronomers have detected the chemical signature of gaseous water in the planet-forming disc V883 Orionis. This acts as a timestamp for the water’s formation, allowing us to trace its journey. Credit: ESO

Observing water in the circumstellar disks around protostars is difficult because in most systems water is present in the form of ice. When scientists observe protostars they’re looking for the water snow line or ice line, which is the place where water transitions from predominantly ice to gas, which radio astronomy can observe in detail. “If the snow line is located too close to the star, there isn’t enough gaseous water to be easily detectable and the dusty disk may block out a lot of the water emission. But if the snow line is located further from the star, there is sufficient gaseous water to be detectable, and that’s the case with V883 Ori,” said Tobin, who added that the unique state of the protostar is what made this project possible.

V883 Ori’s disk is quite massive and is just hot enough that the water in it has turned from ice to gas. That makes this protostar an ideal target for studying the growth and evolution of solar systems at radio wavelengths.


Most of the time, water in the circumstellar disks surrounding protostars is in the form of ice, sometimes extending out long distances from the star. In the case of V883 Ori, the snowline extends 80 au from the star; that’s 80 times the distance between Earth and the Sun, as shown in this animation. But, the temperature at V883 Ori is just hot enough that much of the ice in its disk has turned to gas, making it possible for radio astronomers to study that water in detail. New observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have revealed that the water in V883 Ori’s disk is of the same basic composition as water on objects in our Solar System. This suggests that the water in our own Solar System formed billions of years before the Sun in the interstellar medium. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), J. Tobin, B.Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

“This observation highlights the superb capabilities of the ALMA instrument in helping astronomers study something vitally important for life on Earth: water,” said Joe Pesce, NSF Program Officer for ALMA. “An understanding of the underlying processes important for us on Earth, seen in more distant regions of the galaxy, also benefits our knowledge of how nature works in general, and the processes that had to occur for our Solar System to develop into what we know today.”

To connect the water in V883 Ori’s protoplanetary disk to that in our own Solar System, the team measured its composition using ALMA’s highly sensitive Band 5 (1.6mm) and Band 6 (1.3mm) receivers and found that it remains relatively unchanged between each stage of solar system formation: protostar, protoplanetary disk, and comets. “This means that the water in our Solar System was formed long before the Sun, planets, and comets formed. We already knew that there is plenty of water ice in the interstellar medium. Our results show that this water got directly incorporated into the Solar System during its formation,” said Merel van ‘t ’Hoff, an astronomer at the University of Michigan and a co-author of the paper. “This is exciting as it suggests that other planetary systems should have received large amounts of water too.”

Planet-Forming Disc Around V883 Orionis

While searching for the origins of water in our Solar System, scientists homed in on V883 Orionis, a unique protostar located 1,305 light-years away from Earth. Unlike with other protostars, the circumstellar disk surrounding V883 Ori is just hot enough that the water in it has transformed from ice into gas, making it possible for scientists to study its composition using radio telescopes like those at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Radio observations of the protostar revealed water (orange), a dust continuum (green), and molecular gas (blue) which suggests that the water on this protostar is extremely similar to the water on objects in our own Solar System, and may have similar origins. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), J. Tobin, B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

Clarifying the role of water in the development of comets and planetesimals is critical to building an understanding of how our own Solar System developed. Although the Sun is believed to have formed in a dense cluster of stars and V883 Ori is relatively isolated with no nearby stars, the two share one critical thing in common: they were both formed in giant molecular clouds.

“It is known that the bulk of the water in the interstellar medium forms as ice on the surfaces of tiny dust grains in the clouds. When these clouds collapse under their own gravity and form young stars, the water ends up in the disks around them. Eventually, the disks evolve and the icy dust grains coagulate to form a new solar system with planets and comets,” said Margot Leemker, an astronomer at Leiden University and a co-author of the paper. “We have shown that water that is produced in the clouds follows this trail virtually unchanged. So, by looking at the water in the V883 Ori disk, we essentially look back in time and see how our own Solar System looked when it was much younger.”

Star V883 Orionis in Constellation of Orion

V883 Orionis is a protostar located roughly 1,305 light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion. Credit: ESO/IAU and Sky & Telescope

Tobin added, “Until now, the chain of water in the development of our Solar System was broken. V883 Ori is the missing link in this case, and we now have an unbroken chain in the lineage of water from comets and protostars to the interstellar medium.”

For more on this discovery, see Water on Earth Is Even Older Than Our Sun.

Reference: “Deuterium-enriched water ties planet-forming disks to comets and protostars” by John J. Tobin, Merel L. R. van ’t Hoff, Margot Leemker, Ewine F. van Dishoeck, Teresa Paneque-Carreño, Kenji Furuya, Daniel Harsono, Magnus V. Persson, L. Ilsedore Cleeves, Patrick D. Sheehan and Lucas Cieza, 8 March 2023, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05676-z

4 Comments on "Astonishing Discovery Reveals Water in Our Solar System May Have Originated Billions of Years Before the Sun"

  1. The second sentence in Genesis states this specificfally. It preexisted the sun, and the proto-earth was still in a chaotic state. Howja like dem apples? Kind of interesting when the cosmopolitans stab themselves. But boys will be boys. TYVM for this wonderful article.

  2. Ralph Johnson | March 9, 2023 at 11:21 am | Reply

    The theory has very promising out look, now to find a proto star in the next stag of evolution and then after that star the next star in a further stag. In galaxies like ours you might calculate the distance between the stars to improve the search for others or even find stars evolving to a more evolved state of life. We may find a planet that fits our mold of life and worlds that have hidden them selves from detection. PS it sure would be good to have more open comment areas in other articles without having to purchasing a subscription.

  3. Interesting old news. I heard this a least 15 years ago from a creationist physicist, on the basis of 2 Peter 3:5. Applying this theory (obviously there is more to it than “everything was originally made of water”), he correctly predicted the magnetic field strengths of Uranus and Neptune before they were first measured, surprising the “mainstream” scientists who were way off in their initial estimates.

  4. Frosted Flake | March 9, 2023 at 5:52 pm | Reply

    Yes. Extremely obviously. The water in our solar system predates the Sun. And just as obviously is everywhere. Not just here. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be here. And neither would we.

    The urge to turn the NATIONAL RADIO ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY over my knee and deliver an education.

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