Scientists find 'strongest evidence yet' of life on distant planet
 

Scientists have found new but tentative evidence that a faraway world orbiting another star may be home to life.

A Cambridge team studying the atmosphere of a planet called K2-18b has detected signs of molecules which on Earth are only produced by simple organisms.

This is the second, and more promising, time chemicals associated with life have been detected in the planet's atmosphere by Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

But the team and independent astronomers stress that more data is needed to confirm these results.

The lead researcher, Prof Nikku Madhusudhan, told me at his lab at Cambridge University's Institute of Astronomy that he hopes to obtain the clinching evidence soon.

"This is the strongest evidence yet there is possibly life out there. I can realistically say that we can confirm this signal within one to two years."

K2-18b is two-and-a-half times the size of Earth and is 700 trillion miles, or 124 light years, away from us - a distance far beyond what any human could travel in a lifetime.

JWST is so powerful that it can analyse the chemical composition of the planet's atmosphere from the light that passes through from the small red Sun it orbits.

The Cambridge group has found that the atmosphere seems to contain the chemical signature of at least one of two molecules that are associated with life: dimethyl sulphide (DMS) and dimethyl disulphide (DMDS). On Earth, these gases are produced by marine phytoplankton and bacteria.

Prof Madhusudhan said he was surprised by how much gas was apparently detected during a single observation window.

"The amount we estimate of this gas in the atmosphere is thousands of times higher than what we have on Earth," he said.

"So, if the association with life is real, then this planet will be teeming with life," he added.

Prof Madhusudhan went further: "If we confirm that there is life on K2-18b, it should basically confirm that life is very common in the galaxy."

He told BBC Radio 5Live on Thursday: "This is a very important moment in science, but also very important to us as a species.

"If there is one example, and the universe being infinite, there is a chance for life on many more planets."

Dr Subir Sarkar, a lecturer in astrophysics at Cardiff University and part of the research team, said the research suggests K2-18b could have an ocean which could be potentially full of life - though he cautioned scientists "don't know for sure".

He added that the research team's work will continue to focus on looking for life on other planets: "Keep watching this space."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39jj9vkr34o


it's only 700 trillion miles away

Amazing what they can do and see from that far away

Yes
K2 is so far away.


Folks, there are Stronger Humans.

So if we could build a space ship that travels at 670 million miles per hour (and our fastest rocket does just 400 thousand miles per hour) it would take us 124 years to visit

And when we came back 5600 years would have passed on earth


Someone send for Katy Perry

Who gives a flying f*k about a few MOLECULES that may or not be in existence a trillion , billions miles away

i always have believed in other life out there, than just us humans


i mean it just can't be that we are the only life in the galaxy, and i believe in more universes either beyond our galaxy



there must be some truths to Star Trek (maybe not name wise for the species, that maybe not, but there has to be other lifeforms honestly)





someone needs to be like a real-life Zefram Cochrane and be that pioneer for advanced space travel



same with nebula's, i really think similar to star trek universe, you'd really have some of those in many different colours, dangers etc

It’s not LIFE as we know it though ..

Just the ‘possibility’ of some molecules


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...54206732db.jpg
A

Lots of highly intelligent people don’t share your views which is great

I just don’t agree with wasting £millions on stuff like this when the money could go to more important things like hospital and the homeless

:clap2:

you are missing the entire point Zizu. The technology has already been deployed to capture the information from the stars. Scientific research eventually improves things like how we diagnose and treat illness. Are you aware for example, that the 2nd world war led to us having transistors, that the space race generated hundreds of things that are now household items

Odd and foolish that they're looking at 'possible' life trillions of light years away, when they're already here on Earth. :joker:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oBuizXE6YmA/maxresdefault.jpg

Fair points ..

It just doesn’t interest me at all though

Amazing! Can I move there please because this place is an ever increasing dumpster fire of ****.

ask not what the ever increasing dumpster fire of **** can do for you but what you can do for the ever increasing dumpster fire of ****.

I'm doing my bit to put out the fires, trust me.

Thankfully a nefarious fire has been extinguished this week

So things are on the up

:hee:

Ok, who's hiding from the news.:shrug:

Alien life

Extra Terrestrials



Utter bollox given we really talking about ‘possible’ molecules …

You can fit 200 million molecules on the point of a needle ..

It is.

Many of the gadgets, including medical, that we enjoy were due to research we've done into other planets, composition, geological, etc... so it's not just about "finding life". That is the primary goal, sure, but in the process to get there we are actually going further and studying life and those answers can help us to make improvements here in other important research, in ways we can't do without "far away" findings.

I wonder if they're even hotter women on any of these planets?:amazed:

Or species with a third gender?

Na

Just molecules ..

Don’t fancy yours

LoL


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:joker: