Oxygen found around remote comet

Air surrounding the comet where a European probe landed last year is rich with oxygen, scientists have learned.

The surprise discovery may force a rethink of theories about the origins of the Solar System, but does not imply the presence of life.

Experts controlling the European Space Agency’s Rosetta orbiter discovered that free oxygen is the fourth most common gas in the atmosphere around Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko.