Herschel Telescope Detects Oxygen Molecules in Space

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Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
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Trent J. Perrotto 202-358-0321
NASA Headquarters, Washington
trent.j.perrotto@nasa.gov

News release: 2011-234 Aug. 1, 2011

Herschel Telescope Detects Oxygen Molecules in Space

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-234&cid=release_2011-234

PASADENA, Calif. – The Herschel Space Observatory's large telescope and state-of-the-art infrared
detectors have provided the first confirmed finding of oxygen molecules in space. The molecules
were discovered in the Orion star-forming complex.

Individual atoms of oxygen are common in space, particularly around massive stars. But molecular
oxygen, which makes up about 20 percent of the air we breathe, has eluded astronomers until now.

"Oxygen gas was discovered in the 1770s, but it's taken us more than 230 years to finally say with
certainty that this very simple molecule exists in space," said Paul Goldsmith, NASA's Herschel
project scientist at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Goldsmith is lead
author of a recent paper describing the findings in the Astrophysical Journal. Herschel is a European
Space Agency-led mission with important NASA contributions.

Astronomers searched for the elusive molecules in space for decades using balloons, as well as
ground- and space-based telescopes. The Swedish Odin telescope spotted the molecule in 2007, but
the sighting could not be confirmed.

Goldsmith and his colleagues propose that oxygen is locked up in water ice that coats tiny dust
grains. They think the oxygen detected by Herschel in the Orion nebula was formed after starlight
warmed the icy grains, releasing water, which was converted into oxygen molecules.

"This explains where some of the oxygen might be hiding," said Goldsmith. "But we didn't find large
amounts of it, and still don't understand what is so special about the spots where we find it. The
universe still holds many secrets."

The researchers plan to continue their hunt for oxygen molecules in other star-forming regions.

"Oxygen is the third most common element in the universe and its molecular form must be abundant
in space," said Bill Danchi, Herschel program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
"Herschel is proving a powerful tool to probe this unsolved mystery. The observatory gives
astronomers an innovative tool to look at a whole new set of wavelengths where the tell-tale signature
of oxygen may be hiding."

Herschel is a European Space Agency cornerstone mission, with science instruments provided by
consortia of European institutes. NASA's Herschel Project Office is based at JPL, which contributed
mission-enabling technology for two of Herschel's three science instruments. The NASA Herschel
Science Center, part of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena, supports the U.S. astronomical community. Caltech manages JPL for
NASA.

For NASA's Herschel website, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/herschel .

For ESA's Herschel website, visit: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel/index.html .

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