First detected oxygen on comets

Comet exploration robot 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko for the first time discovered oxygen exists in the cloud of gas surrounding comets, surprising the science world and putting new theories about the formation and evolution of the solar system.

On comets 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko with oxygen exists

According to the IB Times, data from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Philae probe robot landing on comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko last November 67P showed that there was oxygen in the gas clouds surrounding the comet. This is the first time scientists have detected O ₂ on comets, and is the third time that oxygen has been detected outside the solar system. This raises new questions about how the solar system is formed and evolved.

Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken from Rosetta spacecraft on 3/5. (Photo: ESA).

"This is the most surprising finding we've ever seen on 67P because we didn't expect to find oxygen molecules , " said Kathrin Altwegg, University of Bern, lead author of the study. The study is published in today's Nature journal.

Altwegg said, initially, the team "tried to deny" this discovery. But in the end, after making sure it was right, they began to learn how O ₂ existed there.

Andre Bieler, of the University of Michigan, said the group's continuous observation showed that the O ₂ ratio remained constant over several months. When comets lose their outer shell, the crust exposes, but the O ₂ ratio remains stable, so it can be deduced, O ₂ is present in the entire comet.

This raises an important question, how can O ₂ be there, and why can it exist for such a long time? The researchers proposed two hypotheses, one related to radiolysis , where high-energy radiation breaks the link in the H ₂ O to O ₂ transfer band; Another theory is that when the new comet was formed, O2 was integrated into it and quickly cooled .

Philae probe robot.(Photo: ESA).

Regardless of how O2 appears and survives in comets, scientists believe, this finding demonstrates our current understanding of how the solar system formed should be reconsidered, because the current model of solar system does not allow ice crystals to contain oxygen.

"Once the ice is close to the Sun, it will evaporate and lose oxygen immediately. The material will never blend," Altwegg said. "The solar system data model is currently not predicting what condition that happens."

"This finding shows that the evolution of the solar system can be very light, ice crystals may never be hot to melting. Comets are the least evolutionary bodies in the solar system and now we have evidence that at least part of the comet could in fact be longer than the solar system, making them very wild objects. "

Scientists say they will turn over data about comet Halley 30 years ago to find out if oxygen is detected on it.