Anna Oda
November 13, 98

Water Among the Stars
by Elizabeth Manning
( United press International )
4/9/98

SUMMARY

Astronomers discovered that the gas cloud in the Orion Nebula generates a large amount of water. They could not figure it out by now because instrument caught water in the earth's atmosphere. However, they solved the problem with infrared technique. The discovery shows that the water has an important function in star formation, adjusting the heat from star formation appropriately to keep collapsing into new stars. It also helps to find out the origin of water in solar system. Astronomers speculated from this discovery that the oceans on the earth could be formed by comets, which bring molecules of water.

RESPONSE

In this extensive space, I do not think we are the only life. When I found this article, I was impressed that water from which humans were created exists outside of the earth. Although this article has unity of context, some paragraphs do not really connect the other paragraphs. I sometimes had difficulty reading this article besides the astronomical words. I always wonder about the existence of space, the earth and us because there is no purpose they exist. I also think who or what has controlled this existence. The scale is much bigger than I can think. I feel that I am very small in this space whenever I think about the scale. As time passed, we have found out a lot of things which are out of earth. In fact, we had not known even the existence of space for a long time. My questions might be figured out someday.

VOCABULARY

1. ignite(verb): to start burning, or to make something do this
ignition(noun)
" Shock waves from newly igniting stars appear to trigger a chemical transformation within nearby clouds of hydrogen and oxygen creating water --- lots of it. "

2. tremendous(adj.): very great in amount, size, power t
remendously(adv.)
" In regions of star formation, the theory suggests, the tremendous energy blasting from newly ignited stars sends shock waves into surrounding material. "

3. blast(verb): to break a large amount of rock into pieces using explosives
blast(noun)
blasted(adj.)
" In regions of star formation, the theory suggests, the tremendous energy blasting from newly ignited stars sends shock waves into surrounding material. "

4. tumble(verb): to fall or roll in a sudden uncontrolled way
tumble(noun)
" Astronomers have believed for decades that planets accumulate like tumbling snowballs from a disc of gas and dust that remains after a star is formed. "

5. component(noun): one of several parts that make up a whole machine or system component(adj.)
compose(verb)
" Harwit's finding suggests that disc may also contain frozen molecules ice, a primary component of comets. "

HOME