Water Ice Clouds Found For The First Time Outside Of The Solar System

Water, Water Everywhere...Water Ice Clouds Found For The First Time Outside Of The Solar System

A group of researchers have discovered the first evidence of water ice clouds on those objects which exist outside of earth's solar system. The object on which the water ice clouds have been discovered is named W0855 and it is situated around 7.3 light years away from the planet. The object was first spotted by NASA in the exploration initiated by its Wide Field Infrared Explorer.

Whethe earth based facilities may or may not be able to detect these water ice clouds is not yet known. Water ice clouds are very much prevalent on the planets of our solar system such as Saturn, Jupiter and Neptune. So far scientists had not discovered any water ice clouds before in our solar system. But with this discovery, things are set to change.

The research team was led by Jacqueline Faherty of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington. The team of scientists used a near infrared camera at the Chile based Las Campanas Observatory to investigate the coldest brown dwarf ever found outside the solar system. Around 151 images were clicked over a period of 3 nights. The researchers came to conclusions after intensive analyses.

“Ice clouds are predicted to be very important in the atmospheres of planets beyond our Solar System, but they've never been observed outside of it before now” according to Jacqueline Faherty who led the research team. The findings have been published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

At the Chile based observatory, Faherty and her colleagues in a team including scientist Andrew Monson employed the Four-Star near infrared camera for detecting features of the coldest brown dwarf. It was then that they discovered water ice clouds. The object containing the water ice clouds has also been given a lengthy scientific name WISE Jo885510.83-071442.5, the shorter version being W0885. Faherty was also quoted as saying “This was a battle at the telescope to get the detection.”

Brown dwarfs are not as big as tiny stars but they cannot be characterised as big as the giant planets either. The reason why they are different from stars is because these cold brown dwarfs cannot sustain the hydrogen process which serves as fuel for the stars, on account of their small size. At best, the brown dwarf can be categorised as midway between the star and the planet when it comes to temperatures.

These brown dwarfs are neither too cool nor too hot and their masses are between the stars and the planets. Scientists study these stars as they offer clues as to how stars are born. Brown dwarfs are only found in isolation.

W0885 is the 4th closest system to the sun. It is the neighbour to the solar system in terms of sheer distance. Frozen clouds of sulphide and water have been found in this system. With water shortage and a water crisis imminent within decades in India due to depleting ground water levels, it is too ironic that outer space at least seems to have no shortage of this natural element.