Scientific breakthrough: Researchers find evidence of life on distant exoplanet; say more observations needed

Astronomers announced Thursday that they had detected the most promising hints of potential life on a planet beyond our solar system though other scientists expressed scepticismThere has been vigorous debate in scientific circles about whether the planet K218b which is 124 light years away in the Leo constellation could be an ocean world capable of hosting microbial life at leastUsing the James Webb Space Telescope a BritishUS team of researchers detected signs of two chemicals in the planets atmosphere long considered to be biosignatures indicating extraterrestrial lifeOn Earth the chemicals dimethyl sulfide DMS and dimethyl disulfide are produced only by life mostly microscopic marine algae called phytoplanktonThe researchers emphasised caution saying that more observations were needed to confirm these findings and that they were not announcing a definitive discoveryBut the implications could be huge according to Nikku Madhusudhan a Cambridge University astrophysicist and lead author of the study published in The Astrophysical Journal LettersWhat we are finding at this point are hints of possible biological activity outside the solar system he told journalistsFrankly I think this is the closest we have come to seeing a feature that we can attribute to lifeBut outside experts pointed to disputes over previous discoveries about the exoplanet adding that these chemicals could have been created by unknown means having nothing to do with life Chemical clues More than eight times the mass of Earth and 25 times as big K218b is rare among the roughly 6000 exoplanets discovered so far in that it orbits its star in a habitable or goldilocks zoneThis means it is neither too hot nor too cold to have liquid water considered the most important ingredient for lifeTelescopes observe such faroff exoplanets when they cross in front of their star allowing astronomers to analyse how molecules block the light streaming through their atmosphereIn 2023 the Webb telescope detected methane and carbon dioxide in K218bs atmosphere the first time such carbonbased molecules were detected on an exoplanet in a habitable zoneIt also detected weak signals of the chemical DMS leading astronomers to turn Webb towards the planet again a year ago this time using its midinfrared instrument to detect different wavelengths of lightThey found much stronger signs of the chemicals though still well below the five sigma threshold of statistical significance scientists seek for such discoveriesEven if the results are confirmed it would not necessarily mean that the planet is home to lifeLast year scientists found traces of DMS on a comet which suggested it can be produced in nonorganic ways and is perhaps not a biosignatureHowever the concentration of the chemical observed on K218b appears to be thousands of times stronger than levels on Earthlikely suggesting a biological origin Madhusudhan said Are we alone in the universe K218b has long been considered the premier candidate for a hycean planet an ocean world bigger than Earth with a hydrogenrich atmosphereThese planets would not be expected to be home to intelligent alien life but rather tiny microbes similar to those in Earths oceans billions of years agoSome research has questioned whether the currently proposed hycean planets are too close to their stars to support liquid water including K218b which orbits its star every 33 daysRaymond Pierrehumbert a planetary physics professor at Oxford University has conducted separate research indicating K218b is too hot for lifeIf the planet did have water it would be hellishly hot anduninhabitable he told AFP adding that oceans of lava were more plausibleSara Seager a professor of planetary science at MIT called for patience pointing to previous claims of water vapour in K218bs atmosphere that turned out to be a different gasMadhusudhan estimated that it would take just 16 to 24 more hours of Webbs time to reach the fivesigma threshold which could happen in the next few yearsThe current threesigma is comparable to the odds of flipping a coin 10 times and getting the same result each time Cambridge University statistician Stephen Burgess explainedFive sigma would be getting that result after 20 flips and would mean we can be very confident that this observation isnt just a chance finding he saidEven beyond K218b Madhusudhan said Webb and future telescopes could allow humanity to discover life outside our home planet sooner than one might thinkThis could be the tipping point where suddenly the fundamental question of whether were alone in the universe is one were capable of answering he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason 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