Scientists who use the American space telescope James Webb have obtained what they call “The strongest signals so far” of possible life beyond our solar systeman office of the agency British Reuters.
Such signals have been detected in the atmosphere of an alien planet and consist of chemical fingerprints that are produced only by biological processes only.
Two gases
The two gases -Itetil sulfide, or DMS, and dimethyl disulfide, or DMDS- involved in the planet’s webb observations called K2-18 B are generated on Earth by living organismsmainly microbial life such as marine phytoplankton (algae).
Are we not alone? Astronomers find the biggest test of #life #extraterrestrial to date#K2_18b: he #Exoplaneta that could be “overflowing with life”, according to investigators who established with 99.7 % certainty the existence of #Biofirmas. (FEW) https://t.co/xmiu6ith0g
– Spanish DW (@DW_ESPANOL) April 17, 2025
This suggests that the planet could be full of microbial life, the researchers who, however, called the moderation of expectations, enthusiast.
Experts said they were not announcing the discovery of real living organisms, but a possible biofirms (an indicator of a biological process) and that findings must be interpreted cautiously, since more observations are needed.
First indications so far
However, they expressed their enthusiasm. These are the first indications of an extraterrestrial world possibly inhabitedsaid astrophysicist Nikku Madhusudhan, of the Institute of Astronomy of the University of Cambridge, principal author of the study published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
It is recognized for developing advanced techniques to study the atmospheric composition of exoplanets and to coin the term “planets hycean or hacéano”, which describes a theoretical type of planet with liquid oceans under a hydrogen -rich atmosphere.
“This is a crucial moment in the search for life beyond the Solar System, where we have shown that it is possible to detect biofirms on potentially habitable planets with current facilities. We have entered the era of observational astrobiology,” said Madhusudhan.
The scientist said There are several efforts to look for signs of life in our solar systemincluding several statements of environments that could be conducive to life in places such as Mars, Venus and several frozen moons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chr01on57am
K2-18 B characteristics
K2-18 B has 8.6 times the mass of the earth and a diameter approximately 2.6 times greater than our planet.
Orbit in the “habitable zone” – a distance where liquid water, a key component for life, can exist on the planetary surface – around a smaller and less bright red dwarf star than our sun, located about 124 light years of the earth, in the constellation of Leo.
A light year is the distance that runs the light in a year: 9.5 billion kilometers.
Exoplanets
Since the 1990s Around 5,800 planets have been discovered beyond our solar system, called exoplanets.
Scientists have raised the hypothesis of the existence of exoplanets called worlds, covered by an ocean of liquid water habitable by microorganisms and with a hydrogen -rich atmosphere.
Previous Webb observations, launched in 2021 and operational the following year, 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 habitable zone of a star.
When asked about possible multicellular organisms or even intelligent life, Madhusudhan replied: “We cannot answer this question at this time. The starting hypothesis is that there is a simple microbial life.”
It has been predicted that the DMS and the DMDs, both of the same chemical family, constitute important biofirmas of exoplanets.
The Webb discovered that one or the other, or possibly both, were present in the planet’s atmosphere with a 99.7 % confidence level, which means that there is still a 0.3 % probability that the observation is a statistical chance.
“The data wealth of K2-18 B makes it a fascinating world,” said Christopher Glein, the main scientist of the Space Sciences Division of the Southwest Research Institute in Texas.
“These latest data are a valuable contribution to our understanding. However, we must be very careful and analyze them with the greatest possible thoroughness. I hope to see more independent work on data analysis from next week.”
