A surprise discovery has been made by Europe’s Rosetta mission. It has found that Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has notable quantities of molecular oxygen. The discovery has ruled out O2-forming mechanisms via some chemical interactions at the surface of the comet.

The found oxygen has come from inside the cometary material before it got the chance to combine with hydrogen for the formation of water molecules that originate from when the formation of comet first took place billions of years back inside the gas cloud that remained after out sun was formed.

This is a confusing discovery, mainly because astronomical studies of star-forming clouds have failed in and astronomers were left empty-handed in finding molecular oxygen. In case there is a little sign of presence of molecular oxygen in stellar nurseries that from where the oxygen has come in 67P/C-G? It is a very reactive molecule and quickly breaks down when combines with other chemicals.

There must be something wrong as the environment surrounding our primordial sun should have been someway dissimilar as compared to classical theories prediction.

In an ESA news release, Matt Taylor, Rosetta’s project scientist, said, “This is an intriguing result for studies both within and beyond the comet community, with possible implications for our models of solar system evolution”.

Although comets are often looked at as being the probable seed for life, the implication that comets (not just 67P/C-G) may be reservoirs of primordial molecular oxygen could actually be a downer for astronomical searches for extraterrestrial biosignatures.

The next generation of space telescopes like James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of NASA that is scheduled for launch in 2018, is going to begin a new era of looking for extraterrestrial life, or, particularly, biosignatures. Biosignatures are the gases that are associated with biology.