{"id":16298,"date":"2025-04-17T18:27:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T18:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1413137"},"modified":"2025-04-17T18:27:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T18:27:11","slug":"how-a-space-telescope-found-the-strongest-evidence-yet-of-life-beyond-our-solar-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=16298","title":{"rendered":"How a space telescope found the \u2018strongest evidence yet\u2019 of life beyond our solar system"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope<\/a> say they have detected the \u201cstrongest evidence yet\u201d that life exists outside our solar system.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Scientists at the University of Cambridge found signs of the gases dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and\/or dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) in the atmosphere of exoplanet <\/span>K2-18b. On Earth, these gases are only produced by living organisms like phytoplankton, suggesting that K2-18b may also support life. <\/span><\/p>\n

Located 124 light years away, K2-18b is almost three times the size of Earth and inhabits a region in space where temperatures might allow liquid water. This has long made the exoplanet a top candidate in humanity\u2019s search for alien life. <\/span><\/p>\n

Armed with the world\u2019s most powerful space telescope, scientists are closer than ever to unearthing the mysteries of this far-off world. <\/span><\/p>\n

How did the team spot signs of extraterrestrial life?<\/b><\/h2>\n

To arrive at their conclusions, the scientists employed a technique known as transit spectroscopy. <\/span><\/p>\n

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When K2-18b transits in front of its parent star, some of the starlight passes through its atmosphere before reaching Earth. Different gases absorb specific colours or wavelengths of the starlight, which can be picked up by James Webb\u2019s instruments. <\/span><\/p>\n

By studying the \u201cmissing\u201d light colours, the scientists could piece together which gases are present in the exoplanet\u2019s atmosphere. <\/span><\/p>\n

The new<\/span> findings support existing <\/span>theories<\/span><\/a> that <\/span>K2-18b is a <\/span>\u201chycean planet\u201d \u2014 home to <\/span>vast oceans and a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Given everything we know about this planet, a Hycean world with an ocean that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits the data we have,\u201d said Professor Nikku Madhusudhan from Cambridge\u2019s Institute of Astronomy, who led the research. <\/span><\/p>\n

Madhusudhan and his team<\/span> admit that an unknown chemical process may be the source of these gases. However, the observations reached a \u201cthree-sigma\u201d level of statistical significance, meaning there\u2019s only a 0.3% probability they occurred by chance. That\u2019s not the 0.00006% needed to reach the accepted classification for a scientific discovery \u2014 but it\u2019s compelling evidence nonetheless.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2023, the same team of Cambridge researchers found signs of methane and CO2 in K2-18b\u2019s atmosphere using two different James Webb instruments \u2014 the <\/span>Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) and the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec). <\/span>This marked the first detection of carbon-based molecules on an exoplanet within the habitable zone. <\/span><\/p>\n

During these first observations, the researchers also noticed faint signals that potentially indicated DMS. Intrigued by this possibility, the team conducted follow-up observations two years later, this time using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an independent line of evidence, using a different instrument than we did before and a different wavelength range of light, where there is no overlap with the previous observations,\u201d said Madhusudhan. \u201cThe signal came through strong and clear.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The researchers estimate that 16 to 24 hours of follow-up observation time with JWST may push the findings past the threshold for a scientific discovery.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope say they have detected the \u201cstrongest evidence yet\u201d that life exists outside our solar system.   Scientists at the University of Cambridge found signs of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16298"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}