Number 229 (Story #3), June 7, 1995 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein WATER ON THE SUN. The presence of water molecules at the Sun has been detected in infrared spectra recorded at Kitt Peak. The astronomers trained their high-resolution telescope at the darkest part of a sunspot, one of the coolest places on the Sun's surface. At a temperature of 3200 K this relative oasis is cool enough for water molecules to predominate over OH as the majority oxygen-containing molecule. (Lloyd Wallace et al., Science, 26 May 1995.)