ESA Rosetta Spacecraft Discovers Comet Has Oxygen in its Atmosphere

There may be an unusual component in the atmosphere of the famed Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko: oxygen. Scientists have found that there's a relatively high proportion of oxygen molecules in the comet's atmosphere, which is contrary to what researchers previously believed.

"We had never thought that oxygen could 'survive' for billions of years without combining with other substances," said Kathrin Altwegg, one of the researchers, in a news release.

In this latest study, the researchers used findings from the ROSINA mass spectrometer on the Rosetta space probe. These findings revealed that oxygen is actually the fourth most common gas in the comet's atmosphere, after water, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.

It's not all surprising that oxygen has evaded detection for so long. Molecular oxygen is actually very difficult to detect with spectroscopic measurements from telescopes, which explains why this molecule had not already been observed on other comets. An in situ measurement by the ROSINA mass spectrometer was needed in this case.

"It was also astonishing that the ratio of water to oxygen didn't change in different locations on the comet or over time-so there is a stable correlation between water and oxygen," said Altwegg.

It's possible that oxygen originated very early-before the formation of the solar system. Specifically, high-energy particles struck grains of ice in the cold and dens birthplaces of stars, the so-called dark nebulae, and split water into oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen was then not further "processed" in the early solar system.

The findings reveal a bit more about the ancient solar system in addition to the comet itself.

The new paper is published in the journal Nature.

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