Water in Orion
Is Orion all wet? Recent observations have confirmed that water molecules now exist in the famous Orion Nebula , and are still forming. The Orion Nebula (M42, shown above) is known to be composed mostly of hydrogen gas , with all other atoms and molecules being comparatively rare. The nebula is so vast , though, that even the measured minuscule production rate creates enough water to fill Earth 's oceans 60 times over every day, speculate discoverers led by M. Harwit ( Cornell ). The water that composes comets , the oceans of Earth , and even humans may have been created in a cloud like the Orion Nebula.