As of: January 18, 2024, 12:36 p.m
By: Tanja Banner
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Rumors about a possible discovery of life on the exoplanet K2-18b are making the rounds in research circles.
What's really behind it?
Washington DC – There are questions that are as old as humanity.
“Are we alone in the universe?” is one of those questions to which there is still no answer.
Science is exploring planets and moons in our solar system, but also exoplanets and galaxies beyond the Milky Way in search of an answer.
Many people also have hope in the “James Webb” Space Telescope (JWST).
The first exoplanets have already been examined more closely.
Now there is speculation in scientific circles that the JWST may have discovered an exoplanet with clear signs of life.
A report in the British news magazine
The Spectator
presents a detailed list of supposed public clues to this discovery.
Is there life in the universe beyond Earth?
“James Webb” telescope may have discovered something
But what is at the heart of these rumors and how much truth is there in them?
Eric Berger, a space journalist,
contacted NASA, one of the operators of the JWST, directly for an article on the
Ars Technica platform.
Did the telescope actually find evidence of life on an exoplanet?
Berger reports that the answer was a resounding “no” – “but not a hard no.”
The NASA spokeswoman's statement leaves room for interpretation: “JWST has not yet found definitive evidence of life on an exoplanet.
It is expected that the JWST observations may lead to initial identification of potential biosignatures that make a given exoplanet more or less likely to be habitable.
Future missions will be required to definitively determine the habitability of an exoplanet.” Biosignatures, for example, are specific molecules that are detected in a planet's atmosphere and can only be created by existing life.
Artist's impression of the exoplanet K2-18b.
Is there possibly life on it?
© NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)
Exoplanet K2-18 b: Study with JWST discovers possible biosignature
At the center of the rumors is the exoplanet K2-18 b, a planet eight times more massive than Earth and located 120 light-years from our solar system.
Scientists believe it is a so-called Hycean exoplanet - a planet whose surface is covered by oceans and which has a nitrogen-rich atmosphere.
The exoplanet was discovered in 2015 using the Kepler space telescope, and water vapor was later detected in its atmosphere.
At the time, K2-18 b was the first known exoplanet with water.
Initial data from the James Webb Space Telescope in 2023 showed that methane and carbon dioxide are present in the exoplanet's atmosphere.
In a statement, NASA mentions “a possible detection of a molecule called dimethyl sulfide.”
This possible discovery could be the origin of the rumors.
Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is only produced by living organisms on Earth - especially phytoplankton.
This molecule could therefore be a biosignature, an indication of the presence of life on the exoplanet K2-18b.
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Expert: Data is far too uncertain – there is no “discovery” yet
However, the existence of DMS on the exoplanet has not yet been confirmed, as astronomer Florian Freistetter emphasizes: It is not correct to speak of a “proof” or even a “discovery”.
“Normally you wouldn’t pay any attention to a data set like this;
“What you can (perhaps) see is far too little and too uncertain to be able to derive anything meaningful from it,” says the scientist.
It is precisely for this reason that the researchers are very careful in their work.
“The reason why they still mention the DMS thing is because it could potentially be an extremely spectacular discovery and is worth pointing out,” said the researcher.
Further JWST observations could be helpful in confirming DMS.
Nikku Madhusudhan, the lead author of the study that mentions dimethyl sulfide, emphasized in a NASA statement when his study was published: “Upcoming Webb observations should be able to confirm whether DMS is actually present in significant quantities in the atmosphere of K2-18 b “.
“K2-18b will not be observed by a telescope for the last time”
Astronomer Freistetter is convinced: “K2-18b will not be observed by a telescope for the last time.
On the contrary, we will now have to look even more closely and the more data there is, the better we will know what is happening there.”
If there actually is DMS in the atmosphere of the exoplanet, then the study has shown that it is “technically possible to detect such biomarkers,” emphasizes Freistetter.
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