LONDON (EFE) .- The Rosetta probe detected a large amount of oxygen around the comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a finding that jeopardizes the models of formation of the solar system and can affect the way how life looks on other planets, according to published yesterday in the journal Nature.
The European probe detected the gas for the first time in September 2014, shortly after putting into orbit of the comet, but it took more than a year report the discovery to the zeal of scientists to rule out errors in the instruments and provide a sound interpretation of the discovery.
“This is the most surprising finding we have done so far in 67P. When we saw the measurements, at first all we enter a phase of denial, because we expected definitely not find this in a comet, “he told a press conference Kathrin Altwegg, a researcher at the University of Bern in charge of the mass spectrometer Rosetta.
“It’s not just oxygen there is that much oxygen. It is the fourth most common gas comet, “after water vapor, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, he said.
The researchers believe that the gas must have been there since the formation of says, some 4,600 million years ago.
The group Berne, who has worked together with scientists from the University of Michigan (USA), 67P studied for several months and found that the concentration of oxygen remains constant over time in the so-called comet’s coma, the hair that forms around these celestial bodies with increasing temperature.
This means that the gas is in the whole body of 67P, no only on its surface, that is losing material as it approaches the sun.
For this reason, researchers believe that the gas must have been there since before the solar system formed completely .
“Most models of solar system formation predict that there was a huge flow of material from the outside to the center of the system, to the young Sun, while output material outside. That would have meant that all matter mix for training, “said Kathrin Altwegg.
” But that is not compatible with the existence of pristine oxygen encased in ice. If he had approached the sun would have it lost immediately, so the body must always remain outside in the dark nebulae from which probably comets formed, “he said.
Researchers believe that 67P is no exception among comets, but most of them may contain oxygen, so they have begun to scrutinize the data available from the last step closer to Earth of Halley’s comet. “It seems that even Halley has oxygen, but this is still a preliminary result,” said the researcher.
Until now it had detected oxygen to other icy bodies such as the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, but their presence had gone undetected comets
Meaning In short
The discovery of oxygen in the comet does not mean that there is life in these celestial bodies.
The formula life
“So far, the combination of oxygen and methane was an indicator that could be life on an exoplanet. On the comet we both gases, methane and oxygen, but we have no life, so maybe it was not as good as we thought biological signature, “he said Kathrin Altwegg.
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