Are we not alone? James Webb Telescope spots “the first hints of an alien world that is possibly inhabited”
Mankind has been looking at the stars for millennia, wondering if were alone in the universe. We now have the best proof that the answer is ‘no’.
Mankind for millennia has been staring into the night sky at the plethora of stars above, asking the question: “Are we alone in the universe?” The search for an answer has helped drive our scientific discoveries to help us explore the depths of space.
Our latest and most powerful tool yet built, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), may finally have given us the “strongest evidence yet” that there is life beyond our planet Earth and solar system. With the ability to peer deep into space and observe distant galaxies and stars, the marvel of technological engineering has detected on another planet the chemical fingerprints of gases that are only produced by biological processes on Earth.
Signs of life on alien planet K2-18 b
The cutting-edge technology aboard the $10 billion, launched into space in 2021 becoming operational in 2022, has made multiple discoveries in its first few years of observing the universe. One of those was detecting methane and cardon dioxide in a relatively nearby exoplanet called K2-18b, both carbon-based molecules.
That was the first time these types of molecules had been identified in the atmosphere of an exoplanet in a star’s habitable zone. Now in a potential landmark discovery, scientists have detected two gases – dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide – on the planet which is about 124 light-years away.
These two gases are generated by tiny microbes similar to marine phytoplankton or microscopic marine algae here on Earth. K2-18b, which orbits a red dwarf star, is located in what’s called the ‘goldilocks’ zone where it is neither too cold or too hot for there to be liquid water, a key ingredient for life.
Astrophysicist Nikku Madhusudhan of the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, who is the lead author of the study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters told Reuters: “This is a transformational moment in the search for life beyond the solar system, where we have demonstrated that it is possible to detect biosignatures in potentially habitable planets with current facilities.”
“We have entered the era of observational astrobiology,” he added.
K2-18b is a rarity among exoplanets
Since the first exoplanet was confirmed in 1992, over 5,000 are now considered confirmed but astronomers have located thousands more candidates says NASA. However, K2-18b is rare among them in that it is located in the habitable zone.
The alien planet has a diameter 2.6 times larger than Earth’s and is 8.6 times as massive. That puts K2-18b in the “sub-Neptune” class of planets, having a diameter less than the smallest gas giant in our solar system, Neptune, but greater than that of our planet.
Madhusudhan says that “the only scenario that currently explains all the data obtained so far from JWST,” is that K2-18b is what’s called a ‘hycean planet’. These types of planets have long been hypothesized, and K2-18b has been a prime candidate.
Hycean worlds are bigger than Earth covered by a liquid water ocean and a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. While important ingredients for there to be life, they would most likely not be good candidates for intelligent life, only supporting microbial life as they are too hot for more complex life forms as far as we know.
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