Scientists using James Webb Telescope find “Strongest sign of life” on alien planet

Context

• NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in its study of K2-18 b discovered the presence of carbon dioxide and methane.

• The observations of James Webb also provided a possible detection of a molecule called dimethyl sulfide (DMS).

• On Earth, DMS is only produced by life.

• The bulk of the DMS in Earth’s atmosphere is emitted from phytoplankton in marine environments.

K2-18 b

• K2-18 b is an exoplanet that orbits an M-type star.

• It is 120 light years from earth and orbits the cool dwarf star K2-18 a.

• It is 8.6 times as massive as Earth and the size lies that of between earth and Neptune.

• Its discovery was announced in 2015.

• Planet k2-18b is within the “habitable zone” of its star, that is conditions are just right – neither too hot nor too cold – ideal for life to exist.

What is an exoplanet?

• An exoplanet is any planet beyond our solar system.

• All of the planets in our solar system orbit around the Sun. Planets that orbit around other stars are called exoplanets.

• Exoplanets are very hard to see directly with telescopes. They are hidden by the bright glare of the stars they orbit.

James Webb Telescope

• It is the world’s premier space science observatory launched in December 2021.

• It will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.

• NASA’s James Webb Telescope was developed with the assistance of the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

• Successor to Hubble: It has been conceived as the next-generation space telescope succeeding the Hubble Space Telescope, with a focus on infrared astronomy.

• It is currently at a point in space known as the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, approximately 1.5 million km beyond Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

Mission:

• It will be “a giant leap forward in the quest to understand the Universe and our origins”, as it will examine every phase of cosmic history: from the Big Bang to the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets to the evolution of our own Solar System.