Recent reports of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope finding signs of life on a distant planet understandably sparked excitement.
Recent reports of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope finding signs of life on a distant planet understandably sparked excitement. A new study challenges this finding, but also outlines how the telescope might verify the presence of the life-produced gas.
The UC Riverside study, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, may be a disappointment to extraterrestrial enthusiasts but does not rule out the near-future possibility of discovery.
In 2023 there were tantalizing reports of a biosignature gas in the atmosphere of planet K2-18b, which seemed to have several conditions that would make life possible.
Many exoplanets, meaning planets orbiting other stars, are not easily comparable to Earth. Their temperatures, atmospheres, and climates make it hard to imagine Earth-type life on them.
Read more at University of California - Riverside
Image: Artist rendering of the view on a Hycean world. (Credit: Shang-Min Tsai/UCR)
