Astronomers detected potential signs of life on exoplanet K2-18b, 124 light-years away in Leo, using the James Webb Space Telescope. They found chemical signatures—DMS and DMDS—in its atmosphere, suggesting life beyond Earth.

K2-18b is in its star’s habitable zone and may be a “Hycean world” with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and an ocean-covered surface.

@goodnews

#GoodNews #SpaceDiscovery #K218b #JamesWebb #Exoplanet #Astrobiology #HyceanWorld
https://nypost.com/2025/04/17/science/astronomers-claim-to-have-discovered-major-sign-of-life-on-planet-k2-18b-in-constellation-leo-study/

#JWST #exoplanet #K2_18b #HyceanWorld #DimethylSulfide

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JWST Might Have Imaged a Hycean World for the First Time, With a Hydrogen-Rich Atmosphere and a Deep Planet-Wide Water Ocean

Astronomers have directed JWST to examine the atmosphere of an exoplanet called K2-18 b, which orbits a cool dwarf star about 120 light-years from Earth. The planet is 8.6 times as massive as Earth, and the observations have revealed methane and carbon dioxide in its atmosphere. This opens up the intriguing possibility that this exoplanet is an example of a theorized "hycean world," a planet with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and a water ocean covering its surface that extends deeper than anything we have on Earth.

#exoplanets #hyceanworld

https://www.universetoday.com/163123/jwst-might-have-imaged-a-hycean-world-for-the-first-time-with-a-hydrogen-rich-atmosphere-and-a-deep-planet-wide-water-ocean/

JWST Might Have Imaged a Hycean World for the First Time, with a Hydrogen-Rich Atmosphere and a Deep Planet-Wide Water Ocean

Astronomers have directed JWST to examine the atmosphere of an exoplanet called K2-18 b, which orbits a cool dwarf star about 120 light-years from Earth. The planet is 8.6 times as massive as Earth, and the observations have revealed methane and carbon dioxide in its atmosphere. This opens up the intriguing possibility that this exoplanet is an example of a theorized "hycean world," a planet with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and a water ocean covering its surface that extends deeper than anything we have on Earth.

#exoplanets #hyceanworld

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Webb_discovers_methane_and_carbon_dioxide_in_atmosphere_of_K2-18_b