A team of astronomers led by University of Cambridge They say they are closer to a statistically significant scientific finding that will show the signs of life they have discovered from a distant exoplanet called “K2-18b” are not accidental.
Astronomers have used data from the Jamesiames web space, which has been in use only since the end of 2021, to detect chemical traces of Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS) and/or Dimethyl Disulfide (DMD), which they say can only be produced from life such as phytoplankton. According to the university, “the results are the strongest evidence that life can exist on the planet outside our solar system.”
The findings were announced this week in Letters of astrophysical newspapers It points to the possibility of an ocean on the surface of this planet, which scientists hoped to discover it for years. In the abstract for the newspaper, the team says: “The possibility of Hisean worlds, with oceans across planets and atmospheres rich in F2, significantly expands and accelerates the search for environmental surroundings.”
However, not everyone agrees that what the team has discovered proves that there is life on the exoplanet.
Writer of Science and Founder of the Openmind magazine, Corey S. Powell Posted for the findings In Blueski, writing: “The potential discovery of someone else's life is so tempting that it drags even reputable places in running naive or completely wrong stories.” He added: “Here, we go again with the planet K2-18b. Mind …. there is strong evidence of non-biological sources of the DM molecule.”
K2-18B is 124 light years and is much larger than Earth (more than eight times on our table), but smaller than Neptune. The search for signs of even the basic life of a planet on how this increases the chances of having more planets like Earth that can be inhabited, with temperatures and atmospheres that can maintain life forms of man. The team behind the paper hopes that more studies with the Jameseshes web space will help confirm their initial findings.
More research to do
The K2-18b exoplinet is not the only place where scientists are investigating life, and this research is still an early step in the process, said Christopher Glein, a geochemist, planetary researcher and leading scientist at the Southwest Research Institute of San Antonio. The excitement of the importance of the research, he said, should calm down.
“We need to be careful here,” Glein said. “There seems to be something in data that cannot be explained, and DMS/DMD can explain. But this discovery stretches the limits of JWST's possibilities.”
Glynin added: “Further work is needed to check that these molecules are actually present. Also need complementary research that assesses the abiotic background of K2-18B and similar planets. That is, the chemistry that may occur in the absence of life in this potentially exotic environment.
Planets Trapist-1, he said, are exploring how a potentially habitatsuch as LHS 1140B, what he said “Is another astrobiologically significant exoplanet, which can be a huge oceanic world.”
As for K2-18B, Glein said many other tests should be performed before consensus on the life that exists.
“Finding evidence of life is like prosecution of the case in the courtroom,” Glynn said. “More independent evidence is needed to convince the jury, in this case the world scientific community.” He added: “If this finding takes place, then it is Step 1.”