Life on another planet? - 12th May 2025

Scientists have discovered a planet which could have life. The planet, which is called K2-18b, is a long way from Earth.

Scientists from Cambridge University used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in their studies. The planet's 7,000 trillion miles from Earth so this telescope's extremely powerful. It told scientists about the atmosphere on K2-18b.

The team found two types of molecules. These are seen in simple organisms on Earth. For one of the scientists, Nikku Madhusudhan, this showed that, "there is possibly life out there." This is the second time scientists have found chemicals around K2-18b. So, they're more confident there's life on the planet.

The atmosphere's much heavier than Earth's. So Madhusudhan thinks the planet could be home to many life forms.

But the team's being careful. Other scientists have their doubts. K2-18b might not be a planet at all. And NASA scientist, Dr Nicolas Wogan, thinks it could just be made of gas.

There's a small chance the Cambridge team might be wrong. Professor Madhusudhan says they're 99.7 percent sure about their results.

Even the fastest spacecraft would take 190,000 years to get there. So for now we may have to use the information from the JWST.