I'm not saying it was aliens, but...
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I went straight to the source, asking officials with NASA, which is responsible for the Webb telescope, if they had found life (or, at the very least, strong evidence of life on another planet around a star other than our own). The answer was, again, no. But it was not a hard no.
"JWST has not found definitive evidence of life on an exoplanet," said Knicole Colón, the telescope's deputy project scientist for exoplanet science. "It is anticipated that JWST observations may lead to the initial identification of potential biosignatures that could make habitability more or less likely for a given exoplanet. Future missions will be needed to conclusively establish the habitability of an exoplanet."
Although she didn't say so, Colón is certainly referring to K2-18 b, an exoplanet 8.6 times as massive as Earth that is 120 light years from our Solar System. Astronomers believe this may be a "hycean" exoplanet, meaning it has water oceans on its surface and a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.
Astronomers had previously studied this planet with the Hubble Space Telescope, but their interest was magnified when the Webb telescope—which became operational last year after launching in late 2022—made some intriguing observations. Among the molecules found by Webb was dimethyl sulfide.
So what is dimethyl sulfide? It's an organic compound that you may have smelled if you've ever cooked cabbage. It is emitted by phytoplankton in the Earth's oceans as part of their metabolism process. Critically, on Earth, dimethyl sulfide is only produced by life. That does not prove the existence of life on K2-18 b—but if dimethyl sulfide exists there, it is certainly a hair-raising clue.
I also spoke with a couple of other scientists who would know if we really had discovered life on an exoplanet but might not be willing to say so publicly.
So here, as best as I can tell, is the real story. Scientists are definitely intrigued by the observations that Webb has made of the exoplanet K2-18 b. However, there is a robust debate ongoing about the telescope's measurements of water, methane, and dimethyl sulfide. They're promising but not conclusive. As Colón said, we need more data and possibly new instruments to make a definitive call.
So the full story has yet to be told.
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I went straight to the source, asking officials with NASA, which is responsible for the Webb telescope, if they had found life (or, at the very least, strong evidence of life on another planet around a star other than our own). The answer was, again, no. But it was not a hard no.
"JWST has not found definitive evidence of life on an exoplanet," said Knicole Colón, the telescope's deputy project scientist for exoplanet science. "It is anticipated that JWST observations may lead to the initial identification of potential biosignatures that could make habitability more or less likely for a given exoplanet. Future missions will be needed to conclusively establish the habitability of an exoplanet."
Although she didn't say so, Colón is certainly referring to K2-18 b, an exoplanet 8.6 times as massive as Earth that is 120 light years from our Solar System. Astronomers believe this may be a "hycean" exoplanet, meaning it has water oceans on its surface and a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.
Astronomers had previously studied this planet with the Hubble Space Telescope, but their interest was magnified when the Webb telescope—which became operational last year after launching in late 2022—made some intriguing observations. Among the molecules found by Webb was dimethyl sulfide.
So what is dimethyl sulfide? It's an organic compound that you may have smelled if you've ever cooked cabbage. It is emitted by phytoplankton in the Earth's oceans as part of their metabolism process. Critically, on Earth, dimethyl sulfide is only produced by life. That does not prove the existence of life on K2-18 b—but if dimethyl sulfide exists there, it is certainly a hair-raising clue.
I also spoke with a couple of other scientists who would know if we really had discovered life on an exoplanet but might not be willing to say so publicly.
So here, as best as I can tell, is the real story. Scientists are definitely intrigued by the observations that Webb has made of the exoplanet K2-18 b. However, there is a robust debate ongoing about the telescope's measurements of water, methane, and dimethyl sulfide. They're promising but not conclusive. As Colón said, we need more data and possibly new instruments to make a definitive call.
So the full story has yet to be told.
@George-K said in I'm not saying it was aliens, but...:
So the full story has yet to be told.
After much speculation, we arrive at the conclusion that we don't actually know, but we don't know what we don't know as much as we didn't know before we didn't know what we don't know now. No?
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@George-K said in I'm not saying it was aliens, but...:
So the full story has yet to be told.
After much speculation, we arrive at the conclusion that we don't actually know, but we don't know what we don't know as much as we didn't know before we didn't know what we don't know now. No?
Yes, there’s a chance….
So what is dimethyl sulfide? It's an organic compound that you may have smelled if you've ever cooked cabbage.
….that there may be cooking cabbage present.
That just means the Russians got there first.
