New research using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has revealed that water in comet 12P/Pons-Brooks closely matches the composition of Earth's oceans, bolstering theories that comets contributed significantly to our planet's water and possibly life-building molecules.

An international team led by Martin Cordiner of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center mapped ordinary water (H2O) and heavy water (HDO) in the comet's coma during its approach to the Sun. This marks the first detailed spatial mapping of both water types in a comet.

The ALMA data were paired with NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) measurements to determine the comet's deuterium-to-hydrogen (D/H) ratio, a key chemical marker of water's origin. The result, (1.71+/-0.44)+ 10-4, is the lowest D/H ratio

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