Oxygen is not definitive evidence of life on habitable extrasolar planets
Thursday, September 10, 2015 - 11:00
in Paleontology & Archaeology
The Earth's atmosphere contains oxygen because plants continuously produce it through photosynthesis. This abundant supply of oxygen allows life forms like animals to flourish. Therefore, oxygen had been thought to be an essential biomarker for life on extrasolar planets. But now scientists have presented a novel hypothesis that it could be possible for planets to have large quantities of abiotic (non-biologically produced) oxygen.