scientist say they have made an unexpected discovery of molecular oxygen in the comatoseness – or aura – of comet67P / Churyumov - Gerasimenko . The find , made by ESA ’s orbiting Rosetta spacecraft , could have of import significance for the story and formation of the Solar System .
“ It sounds not that spectacular , but in reality it is the most surprising find we have made so far in 67P , because O was not among the molecules expected in the cometary comatoseness , ” study co - author Kathrin Altwegg of the University of Bern said in a medium briefing . The paper is published in the journalNature .
The discovery was made using Rosetta’sROSINA - DFMS , a mass spectrometer , which memorialize an abundance of oxygen relative to water supply of 3.8 % , make it the 4th most common gasolene in the coma after pee , carbon monoxide , and carbon dioxide . It is surprising because molecular oxygen is very responsive . During the establishment of the Solar System 4.6 billion eld ago , when there was a lot of hydrogen around , most model predict that almost all the molecular O would react with this hydrogen to form water , and no longer be present .
But the research worker ascertain that the proportion of O to irrigate in the comatoseness of the comet remained constant over several months . This means that molecular atomic number 8 must be present in the whole body of the comet , possibly stored for billions of years , and is being leaked into the comatoseness as the Sun heat up the surface .
“ We now have evidence that meaning parts of this comet have in fact pull through the warming or formation of the Solar System , ” lead source André Bieler of the University of Michigan added at the briefing .
Rosetta has been in area since August 6 , 2014 . ESA / Rosetta / NAVCAM .
This in itself raises a number of questions . For example , the researchers are n’t entirely sure how the molecular oxygen have there in the first place . It for sure must have been present at the formation of the comet , and it may have been trapped in the water trash .
Even if the molecular O was there at the kickoff of the comet , though , it should n’t have live on until now base oncurrent theoriesfor how the Solar System evolved . It suggest that the building process of the Solar System may have been more gentle than thought , with many objects forming further from the Sun than expected and being open to less heat .
" This means that the fabric from which the comet was build up from never catch very close to the protostar during its formation , " Bieler told IFLScience . Most comet now reside in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud at the boundary of the Solar System , but they are think to have originated closer the Sun . If the area of comet 67P was n’t too close , as this study evoke , then it would let the molecular O2 to remain stock-still on it .
Molecular O has never been notice on a comet before , because it is heavy to notice through scope , rather requiring direct measurement like this by Rosetta . It has been spotted on other glacial bodies though , such as moon of Jupiter and Saturn , but those detections can be explain by impacts of high - energy particles from their parent satellite . The same process could not explicate the existence of molecular oxygen throughout the consistence of comet 67P.
Thus , the existence of molecular atomic number 8 on this comet remains confusing . It must surely have originate in the other Solar System – but it may force a rethink on how some bodies are formed , hint at a more sedate set about for us all than expected .
