Astronomers Say There's an Increased Possibility of Life on This Distant Planet

Astronomers are nearing a statistically significant finding that could confirm the potential signs of life detected on the distant exoplanet K2-18b are no accident. The team of astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, used data from the James Webb Space Telescope (which has only been in use since the end of 2021) to detect chemical traces of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), which they say can only be produced by life such as phytoplankton in the sea. According to the university, "the results are the strongest evidence yet that life may exist on a planet outside our solar system." The findings were published this week in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and point to the possibility of an ocean on this planet's surface, which scientists have been hoping to discover for years. In the abstract for the paper, the team says, "The possibility of hycean worlds, with planet-wide oceans and H2-rich atmospheres, significantly expands and accelerates the search ... Read full article.