![]() The proportions of CO2 and methane are consistent with there being a water ocean underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. The feat is all the more remarkable because the planet is more than 1.1 million billion kilometres away, so the amount of light reaching the space telescope is tiny.Īs well as DMS, the spectral analysis detected an abundance of the gases methane and carbon dioxide with a good degree of confidence. If parts of the resulting spectrum are missing, it has been absorbed by chemicals in the planet's atmosphere, enabling researchers to discover its composition. The details can be deciphered by splitting the light into its constituent frequencies - rather like a prism creating a rainbow spectrum. That light contains the chemical signature of molecules in its atmosphere. The James Webb Space Telescope is able to analyse the light that passes through the faraway planet's atmosphere. Perhaps it will be this, perhaps in 10 or even 50 years we will have evidence that is so compelling that it is the best explanation.'' ''I'm optimistic that we will one day find signs of life. ''We are slowly moving towards the point where we will be able to answer that big question as to whether we are alone in the universe or not," he said. ![]() But they are treating the results with caution, noting that a claim made in 2020 about the presence of another molecule, called phosphine, that could be produced by living organisms in the clouds of Venus was disputed a year later.Įven so, Robert Massey, who is independent of the research and deputy director of the Royal Astronomical Society in London, said he was excited by the results. It is the first time astronomers have detected the possibility of DMS in a planet orbiting a distant star. ''If confirmed, it would be a huge deal and I feel a responsibility to get this right if we are making such a big claim.'' Cautionīut Madhusudhan described the detection of DMS as tentative and said that more data would be needed to confirm its presence. ![]() The bulk of it in Earth's atmosphere is emitted from phytoplankton in marine environments," he said. Professor Nikku Madhusudhan, of the University of Cambridge, who led the research, told BBC News that his entire team were ''shocked'' when they saw the results. Researchers have also detected methane and carbon dioxide in the planet's atmosphere.ĭetection of these gases could mean the planet, named K2-18b, has a water ocean. The researchers stress that the detection on the planet 120 light years away is "not robust" and more data is needed to confirm its presence. On Earth, at least, this is only produced by life. It may have detected a molecule called dimethyl sulphide (DMS). Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope may have discovered tentative evidence of a sign of life on a faraway planet. A handout artist's impression released on 11 September 2019, by ESA/Hubble, shows the K2-18b super-Earth, the only super-Earth exoplanet known to host both water and temperatures that could support life.
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