Star's Super Hot Steam Amazes Science

Scientists have discovered boiling hot water vapor in the atmosphere of an aging star, some 500 light-years away from Earth.

This discovery contradicts what was generally believed until now - that the chemistry of aging stars would forbid the existence of water vapors within the atmosphere.

In the outer atmosphere of the star called IRC+100216, water exists as a gas at 700 degrees Celsius, and scientists first found traces of water vapor in 2001.

This latest study has confirmed that the water temperature is extremely high, making it more difficult for researchers to provide a viable explanation.

As stars grow old they become carbon-rich and one of the first molecules that form in these stars is carbon monoxide.

Until now, scientists believed that the carbon in stars like IRC+10216 would capture all the oxygen, leaving none that could mix with hydrogen and form water.

And even though water presence is not unusual in stars, this is the reason for which water was thought to be absent in IRC+10216.

The research was led by astronomer Leen Decin of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, that used the infrared data from the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, before concluding that water at very high temperatures was definitely there.

After the observations came the explanations, so the researchers has to admit that inside the one-considered smooth and homogeneous layer of the star took place some very complicated processes.

They even admitted that the outer atmosphere of the star may actually be thicker in some spots and thinner in others, which would allow photons of ultraviolet light from interstellar space to pass through and free the oxygen atoms from carbon monoxide, allowing them to form water.

Decin told SPACE.com that this “shows us our ideas about chemistry are too much simplified and there are a lot of other processes induced by these UV photons which we have to consider.”

Also, the fact that the water is present at such extreme temperatures, contradicts the theory according to which it had vaporized off icy comets passing too close to the star, being swallowed by it.

The results of the research are presented in the September 2 issue of the journal Nature.