In a recent discovery, scientists using the James Webb telescope have found alien life on a faraway planet called K2-18b. It is almost 124 light years away and 8.6 times the mass of Earth.
With the help of the James Webb telescope, scientists have found two gasses on K2-18b called dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS). On Earth, these gases are generated by living organisms, primarily microbial life such as marine phytoplankton and algae.
However, scientists are not announcing the actual discovery of living organisms or alien life but a possible sign of biosignature or an indicator of biological process.
An astrophysicist Nikku Madhusudhan of the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy has said these are the first hints of an alien world that is possibly inhabited and a transformational moment in the search for life beyond the solar system, where we have demonstrated that it is possible to detect biosignatures in potentially habitable planets with current facilities. We have entered the era of observational astrobiology.
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