OAN Staff James Meyers
3:07 PM – Thursday, April 17, 2025
Astronomers now claim that they have the most compelling evidence to date for the existence of extraterrestrial life, citing a massive planet that is located approximately “124 light-years” from Earth.
Advertisement
Observations by the James Webb space telescope reportedly revealed a planet called “K2-18 b,” showing chemical fingerprints of two compounds that on Earth are known to only be produced by life forms.
According to research led by the University of Cambridge, the team detected traces of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) in the planet’s atmosphere. These compounds are known for producing microbial life such as phytoplankton on Earth.
“This is the strongest evidence to date for a biological activity beyond the solar system,” said Prof Nikku Madhusudhan, an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge who led the observations. “We are very cautious. We have to question ourselves both on whether the signal is real and what it means.”
He added: “Decades from now, we may look back at this point in time and recognize it was when the living universe came within reach. This could be the tipping point, where suddenly the fundamental question of whether we’re alone in the universe is one we’re capable of answering.”
However, other researchers are still on the fence, with questions remaining whether the overall conditions on K2-18 b are favorable to life, and whether DMS and DMDS, which are largely produced by marine phytoplankton on Earth — can be reliably regarded as biosignatures.
The planet, K2-18 b, sits in the Leo constellation, which is almost nine times as large as Earth. It orbits in the habitable zone of its own star, a cool red dwarf less than half the size of the sun.
After the Hubble space telescope appeared to spot water vapor in its atmosphere in 2019, scientists declared it “the most habitable known world” beyond the solar system.
In the recent observations, wavelengths that are absorbed by DMS and DMDS suddenly dropped off as K2-18 b wandered in front of the red dwarf.
“The signal came through strong and clear,” said Madhusudhan. “If we can detect these molecules on habitable planets, this is the first time we’ve been able to do that as a species … it’s mind-boggling that this is possible.”
The findings, which were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, suggest concentrations of DMS, DMDS, or both their signatures, overlap thousands of times stronger than the levels on Earth.
The results are reported with a “three-sigma” level of statistical significance — which is a 0.3% probability that they occurred by chance, although this falls short of the gold standard for discoveries in physics.
“There may be processes that we don’t know about that are producing these molecules,” Madhusudhan said. “But I don’t think there is any known process that can explain this without biology.”
The Cambridge researchers favor an ocean scenario, but others suggest that it’s a gas planet, or one with oceans made of magma — not water.
“Life is one of the options, but it’s one among many,” said Dr Nora Hänni, a chemist at the Physics Institute of the University of Berne. “We would have to strictly rule out all the other options before claiming life.”
Others have noted that measuring planetary atmospheres may never yield a solution for life.
“It’s under-appreciated in the field, but techno signatures, such as an intercepted message from an advanced civilization, could be better smoking guns, despite the unlikelihood of finding such a signal,” said Dr Caroline Morley, an astrophysicist at the University of Texas, Austin.
However, Dr. Jo Barstow, a planetary scientist at the Open University, also viewed the detection as significant, though her “skepticism dial for any claim relating to evidence of life is permanently turned up to 11, not because I don’t think that other life is out there, but because I feel that for such a profound and significant discovery the burden of proof must be very, very high. I don’t think this latest work crosses that threshold.”
At 120 light years away, there is no prospect of resolving the debate through close-up observations, but Madhusudhan says that this has not been a barrier to the discovery of black holes or other cosmic phenomena.
“In astronomy, the question is never about going there,” he continued. “We’re trying to establish if the laws of biology are universal in nature. I don’t see it as: ‘We have to go and swim in the water to catch the fish.’”
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
Advertisements below
