NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has discovered crystalline water ice in the debris disk around HD 181327, a young Sun-like star 155 light-years away.

This finding supports the theory that water existed in the early solar system’s outer regions and played a key role in planet formation.

The water ice, mostly found in the disk’s outer ring as “dirty snowballs” (ice mixed with dust), decreases closer to the star due to vaporization or incorporation into rocks, NDTV has reported.

This discovery, made possible by Webb’s advanced instruments, offers new insights into how planets and water may have formed in our own solar system.

Written by B.C. Begley