Italian astronomers have discovered water vapor in a disk around a young star, where planets are forming. According to observations published in the journal Nature Astronomy on the 1st, the inner disk of the young sun like star HL Tauri in Taurus, located 450 light-years away from Earth, has a water content at least three times that of all seawater on Earth. This is the first time scientists have calculated the weight of water vapor around a star. Water is a key component of life on Earth and is also believed to play an important role in planetary formation. However, previously, astronomers were unable to plot the distribution of water in a stable stellar disk. But this time, researchers not only detected and captured detailed images, but also analyzed water vapor at a distance of 450 light-years from Earth. Observing water with ground-based telescopes is not an easy task, as the abundant water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere can lower astronomical signals. This new discovery is attributed to the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), which has the ability to display details as small as human hair within a distance of one kilometer. ALMA is located at an altitude of approximately 5000 meters, and this high and dry environment provides special observation conditions. So far, ALMA is also the only facility capable of plotting the distribution of water in distant planetary formation disks. Researchers have discovered a large amount of water in the area where planets are forming in the HL Taurus disk, where celestial bodies are frantically collecting material. And water vapor may affect the chemical composition of this planet. Researchers say that the dust particles that make up the disk are the "seeds" of planetary formation, colliding and aggregating into larger celestial bodies orbiting stars. In places with sufficiently low temperatures, water can freeze on dust particles, and matter will gather more effectively, making this an ideal location for planetary formation. (Lai Xin She)