Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, September 17 (Xinhua)-- the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered an exoplanet suspected to be SeaWorld, whose atmosphere contains evidence of possible carbon-based molecules.

The exoplanet, named K2-18b, is 120 light-years from the solar system, has a radius two to three times that of Earth, has a mass 8.6 times that of Earth, and orbits within the habitable zone of stars 120 light-years away from the solar system.

Previous Hubble Space Telescope studies and observations have shown that K2-18b is located in the habitable zone of its star and is neither too hot nor too cold to hold liquid water.

Illustration of ▲ exoplanet K2-18b, which is located in the habitable zone of its star and is now known to contain carbon-based molecules in its atmosphere. Image sources: NASA, ESA and CSA the new results show traces of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere of K2-18b, but no ammonia is detected, suggesting that there may be an ocean under its hydrogen-rich atmosphere, the results of which have been published in the Astrophysical Journal KuaiBao.

The spectrum of ▲ K2-18b is based on Webb's NIRISS (near infrared imager and seamless spectrograph) and NIRSpec (near infrared spectrograph), which shows that methane and carbon dioxide are abundant in the atmosphere, and dimethyl sulfide molecules may be detected. Nikku Madhusudhan, a scientist at Cambridge University and lead author of the study, said in a statement: "our findings underscore the importance of considering a variety of habitable environments when looking for extraterrestrial life. Traditionally, the search for life on exoplanets is mainly concentrated on smaller rocky planets, but the large Hycean world is more favorable for atmospheric observation."

K2-18 b, located in the constellation Leo, orbits the cold dwarf K2-18 in the habitable zone, 120 light-years from Earth, and is between Earth and Neptune.

This kind of planet is different from any planet in the solar system, and because the lack of similar planets near the solar system means that we know very little about these "Neptune / secondary ice giants", it is still a mystery to us. Scientists are currently debating the nature of its atmosphere.

In addition to the discovery of carbon molecules, JWST's results also suggest that dimethyl sulfide (DMS) may be present in the atmosphere of K2-18b, which is only produced as a biological by-product on Earth. (CTOnews.com Note: mainly produced by phytoplankton).

The team is cautious about the finding because it is far less certain than the existence of carbon molecules. We must also maintain this caution when it comes to speculation about extraterrestrial life. Even if the planet contains an ocean of "liquid water" and an atmosphere containing carbon molecules, it does not necessarily mean that it will give birth to life.

The planet is about 2.6 times the diameter of Earth, which means it contains a huge layer of high-pressure ice similar to Neptune, but the atmosphere and ocean surface are thin. This means that the planet's liquid water may be "boiling" because the ocean is too hot to give birth to life.

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