In the constellation Perseus, at a distance of 750 light years, is theobject L1448-MM , a young solar-type star in the process of formation. These early stages in the life of a star are characterized by the presence of winds orbipolar jets of molecular gasmoving away from the protostar.
The presence of water vapor and its location in these bipolar jets was very little known. Thanks to the HIFI instrument on board the Herschel space telescope, not only have large amounts of water vapor been discovered in the vicinity of this protostar, but it has also been found that the gas is moving away from it at very high speeds.
On the one hand, conditions are so favorable that, in proportion,Every few years, the equivalent of a thousand terrestrial oceans is formed – 100 million times the amount of water in the Amazon River every second.. On the other, the normal thing would be that, in an environment in which the gas is subjected to energetic shock waves – caused by the interaction of the circumstellar material and the gas that is moving away from the star at high speed – the water molecules are destroyed. easily. But it is that same high-temperature, high-density environment that apparently facilitates their rapid formation and causes them toWater vapor ‘bullets’ move at speeds in excess of 200,000 kilometers per hour.
As stated by Rafael Bachilller, researcher at the National Astronomical Observatory (OAN) and member of the research team, “almost twenty years have passed since we discovered these projectiles. Observations of water from space now allow us to make a new physical diagnosis- chemical of these extraordinary objects. “Water is one of the molecules that cools the gas, causing it to lower its temperature, which allows the young star to continue growing. These observations have made it possible for researchers to explore the most energetic phases of low-mass star formation, information that will help us learn more about how our own Sun formed. The results have been presented in the talk given during the symposium The Molecular Universe, which is being held this week at the Royal Weapons Factory of Toledo, on the Technological Campus of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, and is attended by about 450 researchers.
The HIFI instrument, installed at the Herschel Space Observatory, was designed and built by a consortium of institutions and universities from Europe (including Spain), Canada and the United States, led by the SRON Institute for Space Research of the Netherlands (SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research). The data has been obtained by the consortium created around the key program WISH, which stands for “Water in Star Forming Regions with Herschel” led by Ewine van Dishoeck, from the Leiden Observatory ( Holland) and in which several researchers from the OAN and the Center for Astrobiology (CSIC-INTA) also participate.
