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Strongest sign detected of life on another planet [1]

['Allan Rose Hill']

Date: 2025-04-17

Researchers have detected what appears to be the strongest ever sign of life on another planet. The researchers from the University of Cambridge and colleagues announced this week that a massive planet named K2-18b, located 120 light-years from Earth, contained chemical signatures suggestive that its oceans are teeming with microbes.

"This is a revolutionary moment," astronomer Nikku Madhusudhan said. "It's the first time humanity has seen potential biosignatures on a habitable planet."



The scientists conducted repeated analysis of K2-18b's atmosphere using the James Webb Space Telescope. One of the molecules they found in abundance is only produced, as far as we know, by lifeforms like marine algae.

Carl Zimmer writes in the New York Times:

On Earth, the only known source of dimethyl sulfide is life. In the ocean, for instance, certain forms of algae produce the compound, which wafts into the air and adds to the sea's distinctive odor. Long before the Webb telescope was launched, astrobiologists had wondered whether dimethyl sulfide might serve as a sign of life on other planets. Last year, Dr. Madhusudhan and his colleagues got a second chance to look for dimethyl sulfide. As K2-18b orbited in front of its star, they used a different instrument on the Webb telescope to analyze the starlight passing through the planet's atmosphere. This time they saw an even stronger signal of dimethyl sulfide, along with a similar molecule called dimethyl disulfide[…] Researchers want to wait to see what the Webb telescope finds as it continues to examine K2-18b; provocative early findings sometimes fade in the light of additional data. NASA has been designing and building more powerful space telescopes that will look specifically for signs of habitability on planets orbiting other stars, including K2-18b. Even if it takes years to decipher what's happening on K2-18b, it could be worth it, scientists said. "I'm not screaming, 'aliens!'" said Nikole Lewis, an exoplanetary scientist at Cornell University. "But I always reserve my right to scream 'aliens!'"

(Thanks, Syd Garon!)

Previously:

• Here are the first star images from the James Webb Space Telescope, and a bonus space selfie

• Newly released Pillars of Creation visualization is stunning

• Saturn's moon Titan imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope

• Here is the first astonishing image from the James Webb Telescope

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