Your Water Partied with Baby Stars!
By Shruthi Venkatesh
Cosmofluencer (Season 03)
Ever come across posts or articles that say “Water on earth is older than our sun”? Ever wondered how that’s possible? Well let this blog break it down for you, just grab a cup of water and buckle up!
Astronomers believe that Earth’s water might predate our very own sun by studying the ratio of hydrogen to its heavier isotope, deuterium, in various places.
In simple terms, it’s just heavyweight hydrogens (deuterium) chilling with their normal-sized buddies (regular hydrogens) in a molecule. Now, the Sun is a stellar furnace, but apparently not good at making deuterium. So if Earth’s water came from the Sun, the deuterium ratio would all be messed up.
But that’s not what we see!
The Special Mix
Water’s special isotope: Water molecules are made of hydrogen and oxygen. Normally, hydrogen has one proton, but a small portion has a neutron too, becoming deuterium.
The Sun’s role: The Sun’s formation process is thought not to efficiently create deuterium.
Matching ratios: Scientists compared the deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio in Earth’s oceans, meteorites, and comets. Surprisingly, it closely matched the ratio found in interstellar space, the giant cloud of gas and dust that birthed our solar system.
The implication: This matching ratio suggests that some water, rich in deuterium, existed before the sun and was incorporated during the formation of Earth and other solar system objects.
So, here’s the punchline: This fingerprint of deuterium suggests Earth’s water, or a big chunk of it, was hanging out in space even before the Sun decided to become a giant ball of burning gas.
Basically, our water is a cosmic nomad, older than our neighborhood star and potentially carrying the secrets of our solar system’s formation.
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.
But wait, there’s more! This theory gets even cooler when you consider where all this interstellar water might have come from. Some scientists believe it could have originated in giant molecular clouds, swirling cosmic nurseries where stars and planets are born. Imagine, the water you drink could have been swirling around with baby stars and cosmic dust billions of years ago!
An illustration of water in our solar system through time from before the Sun’s birth through the creation of the planets.
https://www.astronomy.com/science/earths-water-is-older-than-the-sun/
Bonus science fact: This whole water-predates-the-Sun thing isn’t the only hint of our H2O’s wild past. Some studies suggest that water might have been hiding inside dust grains during the solar system’s formation.
As these dust grains got pummeled and heated, they released their watery cargo, forming the oceans we know and love. So next time you take a shower, picture yourself getting sprayed by the remnants of ancient dust clouds-that’s one way to spice up your morning routine!
Conclusion
So there you have it. The water on Earth might be older than the Sun, carrying whispers of our solar system’s birth. Next time you raise a glass, remember, that you’re not quenching your thirst, you’re celebrating a cosmic mystery older than time itself. Now that’s something to think about while you guzzle down that H2O!
References
- https://www.astronomy.com/science/earths-water-is-older-than-the-sun/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2023/03/08/all-water-on-earth-is-older-than-our-sun-say-scientists/
- https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2021/04/aa39084-20/aa39084-20.html
- https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/earths-water-is-older-than-the-sun