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James Webb Spots Bizarre Planet Forming Disk Full of Carbon Dioxide

James Webb Spots Bizarre Planet-Forming Disk Full of Carbon Dioxide

JWST detected a carbon dioxide-rich planet-forming disk lacking water, reshaping theories on how Earth-like planets may form.

Written by Gadgets 360 Staff | Updated: 5 September 2025 19:51 IST

James Webb Spots Bizarre Planet-Forming Disk Full of Carbon Dioxide

Photo Credit: NASA

Composite image of star-forming NGC 6357 shows young star rich in carbon dioxide, not water

Highlights

JWST finds planet disk full of carbon dioxide
Water is nearly absent in star system XUE 10
Discovery challenges planet formation models

New images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of a bewildering planet-forming disk discovered to be remarkably carbon dioxide-free and yet water-rich in potential Earth-like planet sugary regions have been released. These disks typically have lots of water vapour, but here, almost none can be found, which has scientists stumped. This striking disparity defies existing ideas about how planets form, says Jenny Frediani, a doctoral student at Stockholm University and the lead author of the study, which was published on Aug. 29 in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Why Water Is Missing in the XUE 10 Disk

Called XUE 10, the star system is located within NGC 6357, an estimated 8,000 light-years away from Earth. This surprising discovery implies that classical models of disk chemistry may not apply universally, and raises new questions about how such noxious, rocky, even potentially habitable planets can come to be.

How Future Telescopes Will Unlock New Clues

There are two possible explanations for this oddity, says Frediani. One is that intense ultraviolet radiation from the young star, or nearby massive stars, may evaporate the system's water early in its history. Another possibility is that local dust contains more carbon dioxide than water because of specific environmental processes.

NASA Tracks Newly Discovered Bus-Sized Asteroid as It Flies Past Earth

JWST, which is observing from its vantage at a stable Lagrange point distant from the noise of the Earth, offers the only platform that can take such a photo of the thermal staining. Its strong mirrors can even study the chemistry of planet-forming disks around young stars in high-mass star-forming regions.

With the Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade to the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile by the 2030s, the cold gas and dust reservoirs could be imaged. Meanwhile, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), underway to be accessed in 2027, will be able to resolve substructures in irradiated disks showing potentially imprints of super-planets.

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