Webb detects water and carbon dioxide ice in Beta Pictoris’s young planetary disk

The James Webb Space Telescope detected glassy water ice mixed with carbon dioxide in the debris disk around Beta Pictoris, a roughly 20-million-year-old star 64 light-years away. The ice mix resembles that found in Solar System comets, suggesting ingredients for water-rich worlds may be common around young stars.

The comet-like ice composition gives researchers a basis for comparing planet-building materials across systems. For teams studying planet formation, Beta Pictoris’s nearly edge-on disk offers a useful target, but this single system does not establish how common these ingredients are around young stars.