Scientists detect possible signs of life on another planet – but it is not aliens – National

Astronomers claim that they have discovered the strongest signs so far from possible life on a planet 700 trillion miles from the earth.

The Scientists from the University of Cambridge used a central infrared camera of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe exoplanet K2-18bA planet that is not in our solar system and is eight times the size of the earth, a rotating a star 124 light years away.

The planet was first discovered in 2017 by Canadian astronomers while she looked in Chile through land -based telescopes, According to the New York Times. The ‘Hyceistic Planet’, which means that it is home to an abundance of a life -signified molecule, is located in the middle of a New study published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The astronomers discovered the chemical fingerprints of gases in the atmosphere of the alien planet that are only produced by biological processes on earth.

The two gas-dimethylsulfide (DMS) and Dimethyldisulfide (DMDs)-released during the observations of K2-18B are generated on earth by living organisms, mainly a microbial life such as Marien Fytoplankton, generally known as algae.

This suggests that the planet is full of microbial life, researchers said.

“These are the first hints we see from an alien world that may be inhabited,” said Nikku Madhusudhan of the Institute of Astronomy of the University of Cambridge in a press conference on Tuesday. “It is in no one interest to claim prematurely that we have discovered life.

“This is a transformational moment in the search for life outside the solar system, where we have shown that it is possible to detect biosa signatures in possible habitable planets with current facilities. We entered the Observational Astobiology era.”

Madhusun, the main author of the Astrophysical Journal Letters Study noted that there are efforts in search of signs of life in our solar system, including environments that may be conducive to life in places such as Mars, Venus and various icy moons.

The researchers do not announce the discovery of actual living organisms, but rather a possible biosignature – an indicator of a biological process – and say that the findings must be viewed carefully.

The findings of the University of Cambridge have reached the “Drie-Sigma” level of statistical significance, which means that there is a chance of 0.3 percent that they happen to take place according to the report. To achieve the accepted classification for scientific discovery, the report stated that observations should cross the “five-Sigma threshold”, which means that there would be “a chance of less than 0.000006 percent that they happen to take place.”

Other astronomers have insisted on the new findings until they can be verified by other groups.

“The rich data of K2-18 B make it a tempting world,” Christopher Glein, chief scientist at the Space Science Division of the Southwest Research Institute in Texas, Reuters told. “This latest data is a valuable contribution to our understanding. Yet we must be very careful to test the data as thoroughly as possible. I look forward to seeing additional, independent work on the data analysis that starts next week.”

“Unless we see it waving at us, it will not be a smoking gun,” Glein told the New York Times.

“It is not nothing,” the planetary scientist of Johns Hopkins University Stephen Schmidt told The Outlet. “It’s a hint. But we can’t yet conclude it in a living.”

Ryan Macdonald at the University of Michigan told New scientist That the “new JWST observations do not offer convincing evidence that DMS or DMDs are present in the atmosphere of K2-18B.”

“We have a boy-Who-christ Wolvens situation for K2-18B, where several earlier three-Sigma detections have completely disappeared when they are subjected to closer control. Every claim of life to the earth must be rigorous by other scientists, and unfortunately many previous exciting checks for K2-18b have these independent claims.”

Madhusudan also insisted on caution and said: “First we have to repeat the observations two to three times to ensure that the signal we see is robust and to increase the meaning of the detection.” He wanted to ensure that the chance of a statistical accelerator is about one in million lower.

“Secondly, we need more theoretical and experimental studies to ensure that there is another abiotic mechanism or not [one not involving biological processes] To make DMS or DMDs in a planetary atmosphere such as that of K2-18B. Although previous studies have suggested them [as] Robust biosa signatures Even for K2-18B we have to stay open and pursue other possibilities, “said Madhusudhan.

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Earlier Observations by JWSTIt was launched in 2021 and became operational in 2022, had identified methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of K2-18 B, the first time that carbon-based molecules were discovered in the atmosphere of an exoplanet in the inhabitable zone of a star.

“The only scenario that currently explains all the data from JWST, including the observations in the past and current, is one where K2-18 B is a hyceist world that meets life,” said Madhusudhan. “However, we must be open and continue to explore other scenarios.”

When asked for a possible intelligent life on K2-18B during the press conference, Madhusudhan said: “We will not be able to answer this question at this stage. The basic assumption is of simple microbial life.”

He said that he and his team estimate that between 16 and 24 hours of further observations with JWST could help them reach the five-Sigma level.

“Previously theoretical work had predicted that high levels of sulfur -based gases such as DMS and DMDs are possible on hyceistic worlds,” said Madhusudhan. “And now we have observed it, in accordance with what was predicted. Given everything we know about this planet, a hyceistic world with an ocean that meets life is the scenario that best fits the data we have.”

“Our work is the starting point for all studies that are now necessary to confirm and understand the implications of these exciting findings,” said co-author Savvas ConstantinouAlso from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy.

This is not the first time that astronomers claimed to have detected extraterrestrial life.

In September 2020, Astronomers said they had detected a chemical in the Venusian clouds That could probably only be produced by organic life. Two telescopes detected the presence of phosphine in the clouds over Venus, according to one Study published in Nature And another presented to the journal Astrobiology. The chemical only comes from factories and microbes that live on earth in oxygen -free environments, and there is no other known natural process to produce it.

That means that there should not be the chemical in this form in any way, except “from the presence of life” or by a little never before chemistry, according to the authors of the study.

“I was just astonished,” said Jane Greaves, the main study author and professor at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom.

The discovery was not proof of life, but it was a good lead that could help astronomers to limit the scope about what kind of alien beings they should look for on Venus, according to Greaves.

– With files from Global News and Reuters