Paris:
Astronomers announced on Thursday that they had discovered the most promising “signal” of a possible life on a planet beyond our solar system, although other scientists expressed doubts.
Scientific circles have a strong debate about whether the planet K2–18B, which is 124 light years away in the Leo Nakshatra, can be the world of an ocean, which is able to host at least microbial life.
Using the James Web Space Telescope, a British-US team of researchers detected signs of two chemicals in the planetary environment, which has long been considered “bioscnathers” that indicates a supernatural life.
On Earth, chemicals dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl dysalfide arise only from life, mostly subtle marine algae called phytoplankton.
Researchers insisting on caution said that more comments were required to confirm these findings, and they were not announcing a certain discovery.
According to Nikku Madhusudan, astronomer physicist at Cambridge University and lead author of the study, it can be very large, published in astrophysical journal letters.
He said, “What we are finding at this point are signs of potential biological activity outside the solar system.”
“Clearly, I think it is the closest to which we have come to see a characteristic that we can give to life.”
But outside experts pointed out controversies on previous discoveries about exoplanet, saying that these chemicals could be made by unknown, which means that there is nothing to do with life.
Chemical clue
More than eight times and 2.5 times larger than the Earth’s mass, K2–18B is rare between about 6,000 exoplanets that have been discovered so far whether it revolves around its star in a lustable or “goldlox” area.
This means that it is neither very hot nor very cold for liquid water, considered the most important component for life.
Telescopes inspect far-flung exoplanets when they cross their stars, allowing astronomers to analyze how the molecules block light streaming through their atmosphere.
In 2023, the web telescope detected methane and carbon dioxide in the K2–18B environment, the first time such carbon-based molecules were found on an exoplanet in an lustable area.
It also detected weak signs of chemical DMS, a year ago a year ago, astronomers leading to the web towards the planet, this time used their mid-ending equipment to detect various wavelengths of light.
He was signed very strong signs of chemicals, although still the scientists are looking for statistical importance below the threshold of “five sigma”.
Even if the results are confirmed, it does not necessarily mean that the planet is the house of life.
Last year, scientists found DMS marks on a comet, which suggested that it could be produced by non-extraction and perhaps “bioscnecher”.
However, the concentration of chemicals seen on the K2–18B seems to be thousands of times stronger than levels on the earth, possibly suggests a biological origin, Madhusudhan said.
Are we alone in the universe?
The K2-18B has long been considered the major candidate for the “Hysian planet”-an ocean world larger than the Earth with a hydrogen-rich environment.
These planets would not be expected to be home for intelligent foreign lives, but were small germs the same as the Earth’s oceans.
Some researches have questioned whether the currently proposed hycian planets are very close to their stars to support liquid water-including K2–18B, which revolves around its star every 33 days.
Raymond Pierehambart, a professor of a planetary physics at the University of Oxford, has done separate research, indicating the K2–18B that is very hot for life.
If the planet has water, it would be “hellishly hot” and uninhabited, he told AFP, saying that the oceans of lava were more admirable.
Sarah Seer, a professor of planetary science in MIT, called for patience, which became a separate gas pointing to the previous claims of water vapor in the K2–18B environment.
Madhusudhan estimated that it would take only 16 to 24 hours of the web time to reach the five-igm border, which could be in the next few years.
The current three-igma is comparable to the possibilities of flipping a coin 10 times and achieving the same result every time, the statistics of the University of Cambridge Stephen Burges explained.
Five sigma must be getting that result after 20 flips, and it would mean “we can be very confident that this observation is not just a chance,” he said.
Even beyond the K2–18B, Madhusudhan said that the web and the future binoculars can allow humanity to find life outside our home, which may soon think.
“This can be the tipping point, where suddenly the fundamental question is whether we are alone in the universe, we are able to answer,” he said.
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