sign of possible life on faraway world
A handout artist's impression released on 11 September 2019, by ESA/Hubble, shows the K2-18b super-Earth, the only super-Earth exoplanet known to host both water and temperatures that could support life. Photo: M. KORNMESSER / ESA/Hubble / AFP
Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope may have discovered tentative evidence of a sign of life on a faraway planet.
It may have detected a molecule called dimethyl sulphide (DMS). On Earth, at least, this is only produced by life.
The researchers stress that the detection on the planet 120 light years away is "not robust" and more data is needed to confirm its presence.
Researchers have also detected methane and carbon dioxide in the planet's atmosphere.
Detection of these gases could mean the planet, named K2-18b, has a water ocean.
Professor Nikku Madhusudhan, of the University of Cambridge, who led the research, told BBC News that his entire team were ''shocked'' when they saw the results.
