Anna Hartz
We Might Not Be Alone After All
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For generations, people have looked up at the stars and wondered if we’re the only ones out there.
That question might have just gotten a little more interesting. Astronomers studying a planet called K2-18b believe they may have found signs that life could exist far beyond Earth, reports WP.
K2-18b is a planet about 124 light-years away from us. It orbits a small, cool star in a region known as the “habitable zone.”
This means conditions there might allow liquid water to exist. The planet is much bigger than Earth.
It’s eight times more massive and about two and a half times larger.
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists studied the planet’s atmosphere. They found carbon dioxide and methane. These gases alone aren’t surprising.
But they also picked up weaker signs of something called dimethyl sulfide, or DMS. On Earth, DMS is only made by living things.
Most of it comes from tiny ocean plants called phytoplankton.
This discovery has sparked excitement in the science community. Some researchers believe it’s the most promising clue we’ve seen so far in the search for life outside our solar system.
Still, not everyone is convinced. Some experts warn that the planet may be too hot for life as we know it.
Others say these same gases could possibly be created without life at all.
Nikku Madhusudhan, an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge, led the study. He said the results are promising, but more data is needed.
He also said that if the DMS signal is confirmed, it would be the strongest evidence of biological activity we’ve ever seen outside our solar system.
Even if K2-18b turns out to be uninhabitable, this kind of research shows how far we’ve come.
The tools we have now are more powerful than ever. They could help us answer one of the biggest questions of all time: are we truly alone in the universe?
For now, we wait. But the signs are starting to look more and more interesting.