Biomarkers of Microbial Life Detected on Neptune Sized Water World

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NASA’s James Web found trace of dimythyl suflide (DMS) in th atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18b and DMS is a biomarker of life. K2-18b’s atmosphere consists of mainly hydrogen, along with small amounts of methane and carbon dioxide. On Earth, the DMS molecule is only associated with microbial life.

We have to wait for the existence of DMS on K12-18b being confirmed, but researchers believe that the planet could be our best bet yet of discovering life outside of the solar system.

An international team of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge has used data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to discover methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of K2-18 b, an exoplanet in the Goldilocks zone. This is the first time that carbon-based molecules have been discovered in the atmosphere of an exoplanet in the habitable zone. The results are consistent with an ocean-covered surface underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.

The abundant CH4 (methane) and CO2 along with the non-detection of ammonia (NH3) are consistent with chemical predictions for an ocean under a temperate H2-rich atmosphere on K2-18 b. The spectrum also suggests potential signs of dimethyl sulfide (DMS), which has been predicted to be an observable biomarker in Hycean worlds, motivating considerations of possible biological activity on the planet.

16 thoughts on “Biomarkers of Microbial Life Detected on Neptune Sized Water World”

  1. how can we send probes to this exoplanet when its 120 LY away?

    our fastest spacecraft can go like 70-80 km / second

    that means it would take ~ 515,000 years of space travel at todays tech to reach this planet

  2. This just makes the Fermi paradox worse, if we can find signs of life on an exoplanet after only this much searching…
    …then that is proof this kind of life is relatively common and increases the odds of there being other forms of life.

    Which begs the question
    WHERE THE HELL ARE THE ALIENS?
    We’re finding earth sized planets in the habitable zones of stars, we’ve found planets with oxygen atmospheres and now we’re seeing signs of life On exoplanets.

    We now definitively know it’s not impossible.

    So where is it?

    There should be LOADS of communication chatter never mind other observable signs of civilizations.

    Unless, there is some sort of filter that weeds out civilizations, or the signs thereof.

    Say treaties that forbid all contact with early civilizations.

    Or self destruction,
    Natural disasters,
    Cosmic impacts,

    Or maybe civilizations move on to communicate via some other means before they could produce a strong enough radio transmission for us to hear.

    Or maybe it’s our location? We’re in a island clump of stars between the more dense spiral arms of the Milky Way after all.

    Perhaps it’s a mix of that.

    • There are strange birds in the sky that somehow fly without flapping their wings, and there is lots of natural smoke, but there are clearly no smoke signals besides ours. Ergo, there are no other cavemen.

      Given how quickly (in cosmic terms) a space-faring civilization can colonize the entire galaxy even at sub-light speeds, my bet is on the zoo hypothesis.

      Btw, oxygen is also a possible biosignature, but not a definitive one.

    • Considering the sheer number of stars and the age of the universe there is no possible way that we are alone. Rest easy my friend. We’ll find them (or they’ll find us…)

    • If it looks like we are alone, we’ll just have to go out and make them.

      A number of SF stories use the trope of the first intelligent species in the galaxy seeding the galaxy with life, as the backstory for why the universe has so many intelligent species at about the same point in their development. Why not make that real?

  4. The thing with mars are also the changing methane levels, with the seasons.
    Still not completly clear how it’s formed btw.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_methane_on_Mars#/media/File:PIA22328-MarsCuriosityRover-Methane-SeasonalCycle-20180607.jpg

    The Perseverance rover (landed Feb 2021) and the Rosalind Franklin rover (due 2023) will not be equipped to analyze the atmospheric methane nor its isotopes,[42][43] so the proposed Mars sample-return mission in the mid-2030s seems the earliest a sample could be analyzed to differentiate a geological from a biological origin.[43]

  5. Absolutely excited about this new findings. Can’t wait for Man’s Next Big Step. Life in another world, will definitely change everything we know about our universe.
    Great job…

  6. Yeah that’s what I’ve been saying for years and none ya’ll be listenin’ That watery world got sea creatures the size of Manhattan on it bro. They animals probably 8 times bigger than ours. They got arachnids that could step over your house . We gotta send a probe asap.

    • Dude the mass of that planet is so big, the gravity gonna be 8 times stronger, the sheer weight of an animal the size of manhattan would just crush itself, if we went there, we would be 8 times heavier too. So to conclude, the animals over there (if there are any) will be 8 times smaller to support their mass under that crazy amount of gravity.

  7. For awhile they were thinking methane on Mars was a biomarker (the seas of methane on Titan somehow didn’t dissuade this view) and some chemical in Venus’s atmosphere got certain people excited for a time. People just have low standards for proclaiming that some chemical can’t exist without biology. If they haven’t seen non-biological chemistry produce something it can’t be produced by non-biological chemistry. 🤷‍♂️

    • Titan’s methane is expected at the temperatures and UV levels at Saturn’s orbital distance. Mars’s methane isn’t. Sure it can be made by abiotic processes, but there’s reasons why Fischer-Tropsch reactions aren’t likely explanations on Mars. As for phosphine on Venus, the argument is on-going.
      DMS isn’t made on Earth by anything natural other than metabolism. It can be made with a catalyst from methanol and hydrogen sulfide.

      • My point exactly. Things that “can’t be produced without a biosphere” turn out to be not so limited if you find conditions that aren’t present on Earth.

        I can’t remember which scientist responded to Einstein’s quote about God doesn’t play dice with the universe by saying he should stop telling God what to do but it can be paraphrased here. Researchers should stop telling chemistry what it can’t achieve without biology.

        It would be great if they find lots of other evidence for life there but they would have to before I’ll accept it.

      • Imagine if you will an advanced society that was so advanced it polluted the world through toxins and maybe even war. The inhabitants made the atmosphere so bad it rained acid and causes a global warming chain reaction that would not stop and eventually closed the landscape. Now imagine if that advanced society figured out how to leave the planet and set up on an adjacent planet. Now imagine if humans did that on Venus. And they created an “arc” and packed it with animals and men and women to repopulate that earthly planet.

        Just a thought.

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