ALMA detection of water vapour in the low mass protostar IRAS 16293$-$2422

Abstract

The low mass protostar IRAS 16293$-$2422 is a well-known young stellar system that is observed in the L1689N molecular cloud in the constellation of Ophiuchus. In the interstellar medium and solar system bodies, water is a necessary species for the formation of life. We present the spectroscopic detection of the rotational emission line of water (H${}_2$O) vapour from the low mass protostar IRAS 16293$-$2422 using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) band 5 observation. The emission line of H${}_2$O is detected at frequency $\nu$ = 183.310 GHz with transition J=3${}_{1,3}$$-$2${}_{2,2}$. The statistical column density of the emission line of water vapour is $N$(H${}_2$O) = 4.2$\times$10${}^{16}$ cm${}^{-2}$ with excitation temperature ($T_{ex}$) = 124$\pm$10 K. The fractional abundance of H${}_2$O with respect to H${}_2$ is 1.44$\times$10${}^{-7}$ where $N$(H${}_2$) = 2.9$\times$10${}^{23}$ cm${}^{-2}$.

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References in corpus (1)

• ALMA spectroscopic detection of water vapour in the atmosphere of the giant gas planet Jupiter