Scientists announced yesterday the strongest evidence yet for possible alien life after detecting gases in a distant planet’s atmosphere that, on Earth, are only produced by living organisms.
The James Webb Space Telescope detected dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide in the atmosphere of planet K2-18 b, according to a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and reported by Reuters.
These gases are produced on Earth exclusively by biological processes, primarily by algae.
Located approximately 124 light-years from Earth, K2-18 b is 8.6 times Earth’s mass and orbits in the “habitable zone” of a red dwarf star where liquid water could exist.
The gases were detected with a 99.7% confidence level, meaning there’s still a 0.3% chance the observation could be a statistical fluke.
“This is a transformational moment in the search for life beyond the solar system,”…
