"James Webb Telescope Uncovers Water in Gas Disk Around Ultra-Hot Star, Sheds Light on Planet Formation"

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has made a groundbreaking discovery by detecting water in the inner region of a disk of planet-forming gas and dust surrounding a young star. This finding challenges previous assumptions that extreme environments with massive, young stars are unfit for the formation of rocky planets like Earth. The discovery could provide insights into the formation of our own solar system and suggests that Earth-like planets may be capable of forming in a wider range of cosmic environments. The research is part of JWST's eXtreme Ultraviolet Environments (XUE) program, which aims to study the environments and chemistry of protoplanetary disks.