Using the joint NASA, European Space Agency, and Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope, a team of scientists has discovered water and other important molecules within the inner, rocky-planet-forming regions of a protoplanetary disk located around a star. However, the star itself is located in one of the most extreme environments in our galaxy — a region wherein massive stars are formed.
Typically, rocky planet formation is found in the protoplanetary disks of stars located in regions where low-mass stars are formed. However, the new results from Webb indicate that rocky planet formation can occur in a broad range of environments.