Did JWST find a Marker of Life in an Exoplanet Atmosphere?
There’s been a big claim of a marker of life, known as a biosignature, found using JWST in the atmosphere of an exoplanet known as K2-18b.
2023-09-21 21:00:00 - Dr. Becky
The data also confirmed this planet was a “Hycean” world, a planet with a liquid water ocean surrounded by a hydrogen dominated atmosphere.
The biosignature that’s claimed to have been found is dimethyl sulphide, a molecule that on Earth is mostly produced by phytoplankton in the ocean.
But how strong actually is the evidence for this claimed detection of dimethyl sulphide?