comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has Oxygen

The finding of oxygen surprised and baffled the Rosetta team, according to the journal "Nature".
I always thought plants made oxygen or you could get it by the break down of water into hydrogen and oxygen but this discovery seems to indicate 67P is a rather special place. The amount of oxygen and to find its' presence on a comet has many scratching their heads and could/should lead to a new understanding (eventually) of the universe.. 67P even has it's own type of water so right there IMO mystery solved.. Water H2O broken down by radiation and cosmic rays or whatever.. Still a very neat finding IMO


youtu.be...

My novice logic would tell me oxygen should be found. Interesting why it's baffling.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
My novice logic would tell me oxygen should be found. Interesting why it's baffling.

Well according to the article I read the amount of oxygen is what surprised them... I agree novice logic would think if there be water ice then a chance of oxygen should not be ruled out.. The article did say it was the first known comet found to give off oxygen... My question then is how many up close and personal comets have they really looked at ?

I figured some might be interested in the video and findings but evidently just you and I and one stealth drive by ...

This is interesting, I must have a nosy at the Rosetta site and see what else they have to say. It's like, these asteroids and comets are supposed to be from the big bang, or rather from after the big bang, and you wonder low long can comets keep outgassing material for? they must lose some of it.

a reply to: 727Sky

I'm wondering if this discovery will have an effect on life-hunting research on exoplanets.

If there are potentially natural sources for a relative abundance of free oxygen, does this hurt the hopes of astrobiologists who were planning to use spectral analysis of exoplanets to search for life by looking for an abundance/disequilibrium of free oxygen in exoplanets' spectra?

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People
a reply to: 727Sky

I'm wondering if this discovery will have an effect on life-hunting research on exoplanets.

If there are potentially natural sources for a relative abundance of free oxygen, does this hurt the hopes of astrobiologists who were planning to use spectral analysis of exoplanets to search for life by looking for an abundance/disequilibrium of free oxygen in exoplanets' spectra?

Great point; and one I had not considered ! Oxygen would have meant plant life before this particular comet... Humm might not be the case of oxygen found after all.. That kinda sucks though because it can cast doubt into any new planetary findings... Gosh I wish we were technology advanced enough to actually get off this planet and do some serious exploring.. There is a whole big universe out there that you have to wonder if all the governments kicked in just 3% of their GDP how long it would take us to actually have something that could take us to the stars ....in a reasonable length of time.. Unfortunately it ain't gonna happen when we seem to be preoccupied with religions and killing each other.

a reply to: 727Sky

I don't think its that weird after all oxygen is the third most abundant element in the milky way galaxy.

Abundance of the chemical elements

But H2O brake down is probably the most likely source, the electromagnetic radiation in space is more than capable of severing the bonds between atoms.

the parables in this thread makes my teeth hurt

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People
a reply to: 727Sky

I'm wondering if this discovery will have an effect on life-hunting research on exoplanets.

If there are potentially natural sources for a relative abundance of free oxygen, does this hurt the hopes of astrobiologists who were planning to use spectral analysis of exoplanets to search for life by looking for an abundance/disequilibrium of free oxygen in exoplanets' spectra?

That's a darn good question, but I guess the parameters for any kind of life would be much more extensive than just for human life as we know it. Some microbial life forms don't need oxygen, others don't need oxygen, but if it is there it doesn't bother them. Water though seems to be the key to everything, yet so far Mars is sitting there, but the wrangle about microscopic life there continues??

a reply to: smurfy

Astrobiologists understand that there may be "life as we DON'T know it" out there. However, we don't really know what the specific life-processes of "Life as we DON'T know it" would even look like, and it is hard to find evidence of something if you don't know what evidence you would be looking for in the first place.

That's why they are looking for "life as we know it", because they understand what clues that "life as we know it" will be providing to us.

For example, they know that complex life as we know it uses oxygen -- which chemically makes sense that there IS IN FACT other life out there that uses oxygen, because oxygen is a very reactive element, and reactive elements are helpful in metabolic processes.

Science knows that life can exist without oxygen. In fact the original simple life on earth did not use oxygen (Earth had almost no free oxygen at the time), and oxygen being as reactive as it is would have been toxic to most of the that Early earth life. But science thinks that life and life processes can become more efficient and more complex when life uses oxygen; they think that rising oxygen levels on earth is one major factor leading to the Cambrian Explosion of life.

But yeah -- Science understands that non-oxygen life probably does exist elsewhere, but biologists believe that complex life needs a reactive element as a catalyst, and Oxygen is a uniquely reactive element.

originally posted by: 727Sky
Oxygen would have meant plant life before this particular comet...

Why do you think Oxygen must come from plants? Plants produce Oxygen out of CO2, but CO2 already contains Oxygen atoms.

Where do you think Oxygen atoms come from, originally?

(hint: stellar nucleosynthesis)

Elements like Carbon or Oxygen are made inside stars, and then get spewed out when the star dies. These elements then become constituents of the interstellar medium and nebulae where new stars (and their planets) form. There's plenty of Oxygen in space.

a reply to: wildespace

Oxygen is common and can be found in many compounds in the universe, but free molecular oxygen is not. Oxygen usually binds itself with other elements, because it does so very easily (which is what makes it a great element for life to use in life processes).

Cosmic radiation ionizes the H2O in ice into H+ and O- The oxygen ions and hydrogen ions each separately bind together into H2 and O2 The O2 being heavier that H2 just floats around before sinking back onto the surface.

a reply to: stormcell

A little more info on the Comet after the 2 minute mark
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