|
Explanation: Do worlds outside our Solar System have oceans of water like Earth? An indication that such worlds might exist was bolstered recently by new evidence that nearby star system CW Leonis harbors water. Recent observations with the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) found significant detections of light at specific colors emitted by water. A hypothesis quickly arose that the activity of the central star is vaporizing water from a cloud of comets that surrounds the star -- a cloud that may be similar to the Kuiper Belt of comets that surrounds our own Sun. The above drawing depicts the CW Leonis system with its hypothesized cloud of water-bearing comets situated to a ring. The closest comets are depicted as showing tails rich in water vapor pointing away from the star. Far from the central star, however, comets should not show significant tails and should be more sparsely spaced. The central star, also known as IRC+10216, is an aging giant star located about 500 light-years away toward the constellation of Leo.
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: CW Leonis - star - water
Publications with words: CW Leonis - star - water
See also:
- APOD: 2025 October 12 Á All the Water on Europa
- APOD: 2025 September 7 Á All the Water on Planet Earth
- APOD: 2025 June 11 Á 25 Brightest Stars in the Night Sky
- APOD: 2024 June 16 Á Animation: Black Hole Destroys Star
- The 25 Brightest Stars in the Night Sky
- All the Water on Planet Earth
- 2MASS J17554042 6551277