Oxygen and the Universe?

Question

I realse that it does not exist in large amounts but can anyone say whether Oxygen is found in any traceable quantities whatsoever on the planets, satellites and stars of our universe ?

Thanks

Answer 1

Oxygen atomes are very common in a number of compounds in space: Carbon dioxide is on Mars and Venus, while water is known or suspected in several places. On the other hand, molecular oxygen O2 is very rare and has not been found on planets other than earth. It is found in some nebula, though, although atomic oxygen is more common there.

Answer 2

Actually there's more oxygen out there than you may initially believe. Venus' atmosphere is largely CO2 and water vapor, each containing oxygen. What little atmosphere is on Mars also contains CO2. Jupiter and Saturn have traces of water vapor in their atmospheres. Jupiter's moon Europa contains more water (1 part oxygen again) than the oceans on the Earth. Uranus and Neptune have large amounts of hydrocarbons within their atmospheres - hydrocarbons contain oxygen. Then there are all the icy objects out beyond Neptune's orbit, largely comprised of water and carbon dioxide ices. As for extra-solar locations - astronomers have analyzed the spectra of nearly every visible star in our galaxy and have found traces of oxygen within a good number of stars, mostly those resembling our own sun. If there's oxygen within the star there's a good chance it's also distributed throughout the system of planets surrounding it.

Answer 3

Oxygen is a key constituent of the rocks that form a significant part of our solar system. More generally, oxygen is one of the medium weight elements that is generated in the later stages of star life-cycles, and can therefore be expected to occur widely in the universe, in quantities similar to those of other medium weight elements.

Take a look at:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/dwarf_galaxies_020723.html

Answer 4

Oxygen is a very common element.
It is not necessarily free,like in our atmosphere but it is tied in chemicals throughout our solar system and in all parts of the universe.

Answer 5

Yeah, here for one, Relis 7 was said to have an atmosphere exactly like ours, check LIVESCIENCE.com and search for the article, they study this with radio wave telescopes