ALMA Detects Heavy Water in Planet-Forming Disk around Distant Protostar

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected doubly deuterated water (D2O), or ‘heavy water,’ in the protoplanetary disk around V883 Orionis, a protostar located 1,300 light-years away in the constellation of Orion. This detection reveals that some of the water found in comets — and maybe even Earth — is older than the disk’s star itself,...