A The team of astronomers has discovered that what they claim are the most promising, but also the most temporary – of possible life on a distant planet.
Research, which was published in the Astrophysical newspaper letterswas led by the University of Cambridge and was based on data from the James Webb space telescope. The researchers have detected chemical fingerprints of at least one, if not two, molecules – dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMD) – in the atmosphere of K2-18B, a planet outside our solar system, 124 light years away from the earth. Like the earth, this planet orbits its star in the living area – an area around a star where liquid water planets on their surfaces may exist.
“On Earth, the DMS and the DMDs are only produced by life, mainly microbial life such as sea phytoplankton,” said a press release from Cambridge. “Although an unknown chemical process can be the source of these molecules in the atmosphere of K2-18B, the results are the strongest proof that life can exist on a planet outside of our solar system.”
According to the press release, there is a probability of 0.3% that these results were a stroke of statistical dynamism. It is not a sufficiently weak chance to reach the required standard to claim a scientific discovery – for this, there should be less than a probability of 0.00006% that they occurred by chance.
K2-18B has one mass 8.6 times that of the earth, and the planet is 2.6 times larger than the earth. Scientists have had an eye on this planet for a few years now. In 2023, the researchers said they had found evidence of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of K2-18B – the first time that carbon molecules were detected in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system in the habitable area.
While astronomers said that the latest results are “exciting”, they stressed that additional research should be carried out before making the daring claim that life was found on another planet.
“It is important that we are deeply skeptical about our own results, because it is only by testing and testing again that we will be able to achieve the point where we are confident,” said Nikku Madhusudhan, professor at the Cambridge Astronomy Institute who led research, in the university press release. “This is how science must work.”
