{
  "abstract": "We report the first detection of TiO in star-forming regions based on Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of Orion Source I, a well-characterized massive protostar. Multiple rotational transitions are identified, with emission spatially resolved within ∼50 au, showing a compact distribution with a velocity structure consistent with the base of a rotating outflow. The spatial and velocity distributions of TiO are consistent with those of AlO, with both species being key dust-seeding refractory molecules. The column density of TiO is derived to be (3.0 ± 0.4) × 10 ¹⁵ cm ⁻² , corresponding to X TiO/SiO ∼ 12.8 ± 1.7 × 10 ⁻³ , higher than the CI chondrite X Ti/Si value and indicative of efficient dust-to-gas conversion near the protostar. The detection of TiO, a key dust-seeding species, offers important constraints on refractory chemistry and the formation environments of primitive minerals, linking astrochemical processes in protostellar systems to the earliest stages of solar system material formation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "RIKEN Pioneering Research Institute",
    "Instituto de Física Fundamental",
    "INAF",
    "The Graduate University for Advanced Studies",
    "National Astronomical Observatory of Japan",
    "University of Florida",
    "Massachusetts Institute of Technology",
    "National Radio Astronomy Observatory",
    "Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México",
    "NRC Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics",
    "Kyoto University",
    "The University of Tokyo",
    "Institute of Science Tokyo",
    "Shanghai Jiao Tong University",
    "Key Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (MOE)/Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology",
    "Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA)"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 19,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ziwei E. Zhang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9927-2705"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Nami Sakai",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3297-4497"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Marcelino Agúndez",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3248-3564"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Linda Podio",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2733-5372"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Claudio Codella",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1514-3074"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Tomoya Hirota",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1659-095X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Adam Ginsburg",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6431-9633"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Brett McGuire",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1254-4817"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Nadia M. Murillo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Yuki Okoda",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3655-5270"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Yoko Oya"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Giovanni Sabatini",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6428-9806"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Aki Takigawa"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12
      ],
      "name": "Kei E. I. Tanaka",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6907-0926"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        13,
        14
      ],
      "name": "Yichen Zhang",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7511-0034"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Qiuyi Luo",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4506-3171"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Yu Cheng",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8691-4588"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        15
      ],
      "name": "Izaskun Jiménez-Serra",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4493-8714"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Shogo Tachibana",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4603-9440"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/50jzqs00sjydk.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3847/2041-8213/aeacbe",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "50jzqs00sjydk",
  "issns": [
    "2041-8205",
    "2041-8213"
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  "landing_url": "https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aeacbe",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
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      "openalex",
      "3103|Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies"
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  "pdf_url": "https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aeacbe/pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-23",
  "publisher": "American Astronomical Society",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/50jzqs00sjydk.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:13Z",
      "native_id": "10.3847/2041-8213/aeacbe",
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      "url": "https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aeacbe"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "openalex:3103|Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies",
      "subfield": "stellar"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Dust-seeding Molecules in a Massive Protostar—Detection of TiO in Orion Source I",
  "title_text": "Dust-seeding Molecules in a Massive Protostar—Detection of TiO in Orion Source I",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:13Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/50jzqs00sjydk",
  "venue": "The Astrophysical Journal Letters",
  "versions": []
}