Is there life on another planet?

Far planet may already support life - 12th May 2025

Experts may have found life on another planet. But the planet, K2-18b, is 7,000 trillion miles from Earth.

The team, from the Cambridge University Institute of Astronomy, made the discovery with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This advanced telescope informed them about the atmosphere of the planet, which is 7,000 trillion miles away.

Its atmosphere is made up of the molecules dimethyl sulphide (DMS) and dimethyl disulphide (DMDS). On Earth, simple living organisms can produce these two molecules.

Professor Nikku Madhusudhan, who's leading the team, explained, "This is the strongest evidence yet there is life out there." It's actually the second time chemicals have been found, which appears to add support to the team's theory.

The gas around the planet is thought to be much greater than Earth's. This has led Professor Madhusudhan to suppose that the planet might be full of life.

However, scientists from Cambridge and around the world warn people to be cautious about the findings. Others in the field are questioning if chemicals have been found and whether K2-18b's actually a planet. NASA scientist Dr Nicolas Wogan has written a paper which suggests that it could simply consist of gas.

In the world of science, experts like to be 99.99 percent correct but these results are only 99.7 percent.

For now, scientists are relying on the JWST because to check it would take 190,000 years to reach K2-18b on the fastest rocket.