A team of scientists from Cambridge University has found new evidence suggesting that a distant planet, K2-18b, may be home to life. The researchers detected signs of molecules that are only produced by simple organisms on Earth in the atmosphere of K2-18b.
K2-18b is a planet 700 trillion miles away from us and is about two-and-a-half times the size of our own planet. The team used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to analyze the chemical composition of its atmosphere, revealing high levels of dimethyl sulphide (DMS) and dimethyl disulphide (DMDS).
These gases are commonly produced by marine phytoplankton and bacteria on Earth. While the detection is promising, the researchers stress that more data is needed to confirm these results.
To confirm the signal, scientists need to be about 99.99999% sure of their findings, known as a five-sigma result. The current detection is only three sigma, or 99.7%, which falls short of this threshold. However, it’s much stronger than the one sigma result obtained last year.
The team, led by Professor Nikku Madhusudhan, hopes to obtain more conclusive evidence in the next one to two years. If confirmed, this finding would be a significant breakthrough in the search for life beyond Earth.
While some scientists express caution and debate about alternative explanations for the data, others are optimistic that K2-18b could harbor life. The discovery is also seen as part of a broader effort to understand the existence of life in the universe.
The research has been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, and more information will be available in the coming months as the team continues their investigation.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39jj9vkr34o