dr-becky 3 weeks ago
astrophysicist #Space and Time

Did JWST Really find Evidence of Life on this Exoplanet?

Back in 2023, we saw the first ever claim that JWST had discovered a possible signature of life in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, a planet orbiting another star in our galaxy the Milky Way. But the evidence for the claim that dimethyl sulphide exists in K2-18b’s atmosphere was weak.

Now, in the past few months of 2024, we’ve had two new papers analysing the data from K2-18b which both claim there are other models that can explain K2-18b just as well, with the same level of statistical backing. So what is going on here? So let's dive into what’s going on so you can all make up your own mind.

Dr Becky Smethurst
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