This artist’s concept illustration, released on May 14, 2025, shows a Sun-like star encircled by a disk of dusty debris containing crystalline water ice. Astronomers long expected that frozen water was scattered in systems around stars. By using detailed data known as spectra from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, researchers confirmed the presence of crystalline water ice — definitive evidence of what astronomers expected. Water ice is a vital ingredient in disks around young stars — it heavily influences the formation of giant planets and may also be delivered by small bodies like comets and asteroids to fully formed rocky planets.
Read more about what this discovery means.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)