Scientists discover possible signs of life on another planet – but not foreigners – nation
Astronomers claim to have discovered the strongest signs of possible life on a planet 700 trillion miles from Earth.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mid-infrared camera to observe the external camera K2-18B, a planet not in our solar system, eight times the Earth, and eight times the Earth, spinning a star for 124 light years.
According to the New York Times, the Earth was first discovered by Canadian astronomers in 2017, while browsing the ground telescope in Chile. “Planet Hycean”, which means it has a wealth of life-destiny molecules, is a center published in a new study Journal of Astrophysics.
Astronomers detect chemical fingerprints of gases in the atmosphere of alien planets, which are produced only by biological processes on Earth.
The two gases involved in the K2-18b observations – dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) are produced on Earth by living organisms, mainly organisms such as marine phytoplankton, such as marine phytoplankton, commonly known as algae.
This suggests that the planet may be accompanied by microbial life, the researchers said.
“These are the initial tips for the alien world we see that foreign worlds may be inhabited,” Nikku Madhusudhan of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge said in a press conference on Tuesday. “It is premature to claim that we have discovered that life is the interest of no one.”
“This is a moment of change in searching for life outside the solar system, where we demonstrate that biosignatures can be detected in potential habitable planets with current facilities. We have entered the age of observational astrobiology.”
Madhusudhan, principal author Journal of Astrophysics Research points out that efforts are being made to find signs of life in our solar system, including environments that may benefit Mars, Venus and various icy moons.
The researchers did not announce the discovery of actual organisms, but rather the possible biosignature (an indicator of biological processes), and said that these findings should be seen with caution.
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The report said the University of Cambridge's findings reached a statistically significant “three sigma” level, meaning they are 0.3% likely to happen by chance. To reach the accepted classification of scientific discoveries, the report states that observations will have to cross the “five sigma thresholds”, meaning “the probability that they will occur by chance is less than 0.000006%.”
Other astronomers urged caution on new discoveries until other groups can verify them.
“The rich data from K2-18 B makes it an attractive world,” Christopher Glein, chief scientist at the Space Sciences Division of Southwestern Institute in Texas, told Reuters. “These latest data are a valuable contribution to our understanding. However, we have to test the data as carefully as possible. I look forward to starting to see other independent work on data analytics next week.”
“Unless we see ET wave at us, it won't be a smoking gun,” Glein told the New York Times.
“It's not nothing,” Johns Hopkins planetary scientist Stephen Schmidt told the media. “It's a hint. But we can't draw a conclusion yet.”
Ryan MacDonald of the University of Michigan told the new scientists that “the new JWST observations provide no compelling evidence that DMS or DMD exists in the atmosphere of K2-18B.”
“We have a boy-like wolf condition for K2-18B, and after a closer review, multiple previous three sigma detections completely disappeared. Any life of other scientists exceeds the Earth's requirements will require rigorous inspection by other scientists, and unfortunately, many previous K2-18B's unveiled claims for these independent examinations have not yet been associated with the exciting claims of K2-18.”
Madhusudan also urged caution, saying: “First, we need to repeat the observations two to three times to ensure that the signals we see are robust and improve the detection significance.” He wanted to make sure that the chance of counting fluorine was less than one in a million.
“Secondly, we need more theoretical and experimental research to ensure if there is another non-biological mechanism. [one not involving biological processes] Making DMS or DMD in a planetary atmosphere, such as K2-18B. Even if previous research has proposed them [as] “Even with K2-18B, we need to stay open and pursue other possibilities,” Madhusudhan said.
Early observations of JWST, which was launched in 2021 and started operating in 2022, found that methane and carbon dioxide were found in the atmosphere of K2-18 B, the first time that carbon molecules have been found in the outer methane atmosphere of the habitable zone of the star.
“The only explanation of all data that is far from JWST, including past and present observations, K2-18 B is Hycean World with life observations,” Madhusudhan said. “However, we need to be open and continue to explore other scenarios.”
Asked about possible smart life on K2-18B during the press conference, Madhusudhan said: “We will not be able to answer this question at this stage. The baseline assumption is simple microbial life.”
He said he and his team estimate that further observations with JWST could help them reach five-bedroom male levels.
“Earlier theoretical work predicted that on Hycean Worlds, there could be high levels of sulfur-based gases (such as DMS and DMD),” Madhusudhan said. “Now, we have observed it as predicted. Given our knowledge of the planet, it is a sea world with life, and this is the scenario that best suits the data we have.”
“Our work is the starting point for all the investigations needed to confirm and understand the meaning of these exciting findings now,” said Savvas Constantinou, co-author of the Cambridge Institute of Astronomy.
This is not the first time that astronomers have claimed to have probed the lives of aliens.
In September 2020, astronomers said they discovered a chemical in the Venus cloud that may only be produced by organic life. According to a two-dimensional telescope published in the clouds of Venus, the presence of phosphoric acid was detected in the clouds. nature Another submitted to the journal Astrobiology. The chemical comes only from factories and microorganisms that live in the aerobic environment on Earth, and there are no other known natural processes to produce it.
According to the study authors, this means that chemicals should not exist in this form except “from the existence of life” or chemical reactions that have never been seen.
“I was just stunned,” said lead study author Jane Greaves, professor at Cardiff University in the UK.
Greaves said the discovery is not a proof of life, but it is a great leadership that can help astronomers narrow down the range of aliens they should be looking for on Venus.
– Documents with Global News and Reuters
