I LOVE the "Questions" or "Sudent Questions" shows in Astronomy Cast and love how yall are managing them. I have a question, and I'm putting it on here that way I wont have to try to fight the crowd to get it answered on the show, and maybe other members on here could chime in with answers...I am a Novice Astronomer...and that is an overstatement..."Extremely Interested and Learning the Basics Astronomer" is a more accurate statement...I do not, by any means, have much knowledge on Astronomy, but I do have the yearning for knowing the unknown...so...here's a question I have...(and everyone feel free to answer, trust me, I'm just now learning the "Laws of Space" *which is space makes it's own laws, haha*

Q - From my understanding, space is a extremely cold and absolute vacuum...one where no oxygen is present and no gravity (if I'm wrong here, then my question is shot, haha) Ok...so us finding ice on asteroids, Mars, and the Moon...doesn't that prove that Oxygen is present in space? And before Ice can be formed, it would have have start in a liquid state...and even for rapid transformation, Oxygen molecules would have to bond to Hydrogen to create the ice...right??? How is there ice in space when space is suppose to be absent of Oxygen...?

Please let me know, because I am sure I am wrong with some of my information, but it's just a question I have...thank you for yalls time and keep up the great work Fraser and Pamela!

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"Space is the great hypocrite" - Fraser Cain

Welcome to BAUT Forum. There is a general Questions and Answers section if you seek answers and don't necessarily want to talk about Astronomy Cast. You'll get more action on questions there.

Space, away from other bodies? "Empty" space? There's gravity everywhere, for there are bodies all around attracting gravitationally. If you are in low-Earth orbit, like astronauts spend most of their time, you are bound gravitationally to the Earth. You experience "microgravity" (AKA zero G) because you, and everything with you, are in freefall. To get away from gravity you must get away from all objects. That can't be done without leaving the Universe, and so far as anyone knows that can't be done. But you can get far away, and then their gravitational effect will be minuscule. Like, travel a couple of lightyears. Then you'll barely notice gravity of other objects, but they will be there and their effects could be measured.

No oxygen? Empty space is empty -- mostly, just a few atoms here and there (but a tiny fraction of those few will be oxygen).

But, bodies in space are not empty. They are full of stuff. Some of that stuff is oxygen. Sometimes in large quantities. Oxygen isn't magic stuff. It's one of many elements. Earth has oxygen. The Moon has oxygen. Mars has oxygen. And the list is long. (Earth has plenty of gaseous oxygen, for which we can thank the plants mostly; that makes it easy for us to breathe; most other bodies don't have gaseous oxygen like Earth.)

Right. Plenty of oxygen (and other elements) atoms are in other bodies in space. No surprise.

(It doesn't affect your argument, but you have no basis to claim that all ice must first exist as liquid. That doesn't follow. Gaseous matter can convert into solid matter without going through the liquid phase -- under the right temperatures and pressures. Look up "phase transition" (Wikipedia).)

Since there is oxygen (and other elements) "in space" there's no problem with ice existing in space. There is lots of water, lots of water ice. Some moons, like Europa, have much much deeper oceans than Earth's. The gas giants probably have thick water layers probably tens, hundreds of times Earth's water. Mars has been shown to have surface and near-surface water ice deposits in some regions, and deeper thick ice layers (but is probably drier than Earth overall). There's lots of oxygen, lots of water, in the solar system.

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Style: you might get more responses if you don't ask so many questions at once. It's hard to tackle so much. Ask more bite-size stuff. Like: is there oxygen is space? And stop and wait for answers. Then proceed if you have further questions.

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Space is not an absolute vacuum. Large amounts of hydrogen and to a lesser extent helium, and a few bits of other stuff were created in the Big Bang. A lot of that matter has condensed into galaxies and stars, and gas clouds. But not all, there are lots of atoms and ions zipping around.

Why oxygen can be found in our solar system is a different question. As I understand it, oxygen is mainly created by fusion processes in stars. Some stars explode in a supernova, and that way the oxygen (and other elements) end up in vast clouds of gas. Those clouds can later form new stars, and planets, and the other objects found in our solar system. So the oxygen does not just appear from 'nothing'.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin
"Your right to hold an opinion is not being contested. Your expectation that it be taken seriously is." -- Jason Thompson
Meet the OOONG TOE.

Thank yall for the input, it really does help. I do have alot more questions, and I will work on putting them into smaller questions then follow up, thank yall again, and I hope to hear some more from yall, and I hope my questions will be good enough to stimulate thought. Like I said, I'm a beginner in Astronomy, and I'm looking to learn the basics and to eliminate my first few questions in order for me to better understand space.

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"Space is the great hypocrite" - Fraser Cain

I think you'll find lots of people here willing to share. The Q&A section is always busy. This area, more specific to Astronomy Cast might not see as much traffic, or attract as many eyeballs. Don't hesitate to use Q&A, if you like.

Explore the search functions, the vBulletin forum search and also the Google site search. They can lead to existing answers to old questions that might match yours. There's a lot of knowledge stored here.

Again, welcome to BAUT Forum. Have fun.

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