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Herschel telescope detects some of the youngest stars ever seen
Astronomers at the Herschel space observatory have discovered some of the youngest stars ever seen, NASA reports. With observations from the Herschel telescope as well as the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) in Chile, researchers were able to detect 15 protostars -- the biggest group of such young stars in a single star-forming region. This discovery came during a survey of a stellar formation located in the constellation Orion, with Herschel detecting the bodies in far-infrared-light and the APEX ground telescope verifying the stars' presence with radio wave observations. This discovery is especially exciting not just because protostars are especially difficult to detect due to the dense layers of gas and dust that surround them, but also because it indicates that astronomers are getting closer to charting the complete life cycle of a star, starting at the moment of its birth.
Herschel telescope finds first evidence of oxygen molecules in space
It's not every day that scientists get to say they've found something in space for the first time ever, but astronomers working with the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory announced just such a discovery today, and it's a big one. They've made the first confirmed finding of oxygen molecules in space (found hiding in the Orion nebula), and suggest that the oxygen is likely released when the water ice surrounding dust grains is melted by the heat from nearby stars forming. Of course, one discovery only leads to more questions, and the scientists note that they still haven't found large amounts of oxygen, and "still don't understand what is so special about the spots where we find it."
