The Rosetta spacecraft has “sniffed” molecules of oxygen surrounding the comet it is tracking in what scientists have called their most surprising discovery yet.
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While molecular oxygen has been spotted on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, until now it has remained unobserved on comets.
Early on in the mission of the ROSINA mass spectrometer, researchers from the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) at the University of Bern made an unexpected discovery when analyzing the comet’s gases: Between the expected peak values of sulfur and methanol, clear traces of oxygen molecules were detected.
The information was gathered as Comet 67P/Churyumo-Gersimenko streaked past the Sun in August towing the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft.
When it comes to life as we know it here on earth, there are several elements which we need to bear in mind – water and oxygen are two of the essential items that most life forms would require in order to survive at the very basic level, while a slew of other variables will also need to hang in a flawless balance.
An global team of astronomers today announced the detection of molecular oxygen in the cloud of gas that surrounds the nucleus of the comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
These particles can split water, but as the comet goes around the Sun, it loses between one and ten metres of its circumference and should have lost much of its oxygen. That is explained by their being struck by high-energy particles from their respective mother planets, which does not exist in the case of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
The comet has been bombarded for 4.6 billion years, though, by high-energy cosmic radiation particles. Using instruments aboard the Rosetta probe, which orbits the rubber duck-shaped comet, scientists discovered its existence in a halo around the comet, according to a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature. There was a lot of hydrogen around when the solar system was formed.
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‘This evidence of oxygen as an ancient substance will likely discredit a few theoretical models of the formation of our Solar System, ‘ she said.
