Published September 12, 2025 | Version v1

A fish out of water: unique observations of water in planet-forming disks

Authors/Creators

  • 1. University of Milan

Description

Water is a crucial ingredient for life as we know it on Earth. Furthermore, water enhances planet formation and it is the main carrier of oxygen, one of the most abundant elements. Still, the trail of water from clouds to planets is unclear. Water on Earth may be inherited from its parent molecular cloud, but it is also possible that water has been destroyed and reformed along the water trail from the cloud to the disk. In addition, spatially resolved observations of water in planet-forming disks are extremely rare, hiding one of the most important molecules from our sight at the moment planets are forming. In this talk I will show the latest results looking at water in planet-forming disks, including both the first spatially resolved observations of the main water isotopologue tracing the spatial extent of water, and the most rare isotopologue observed to date tracing whether or not water is inherited from the earliest phases of star and planet formation.

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Margot_Leemker_ESO_TNF2025_Zenodo.pdf

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