James Webb Telescope Discovers Ancient Ice Around Young Star

Beta Pictoris is a young star located roughly 64 light-years away from Earth and surrounded by a vast disk of dust and rubble where planets are still forming. A team of researchers used the James Webb Space Telescope to look for ice within this disk, successfully finding both water and carbon dioxide ice. The water ice is glassy rather than crystalline, and it is mixed with carbon dioxide in proportions similar to comets found in our own Solar System. This discovery suggests that the ingredients necessary to form water-rich worlds may be common around young stars.