British researchers have found the “strongest evidence yet” of alien life beyond our planet.

While studying exoplanet K2-18b, which is 124 light years away, the team found signs of chemicals that are produced on earth by simple organisms such as marine phytoplankton and bacteria.

The chemicals, dimethyl sulphide and dimethyl disulphide (DMS and DMDS), were detected by researchers from the University of Cambridge using the James Webb Space Telescope.

Lead researcher Professor Nikku Madhusudhan, from the university’s Institute of Astronomy, said the finding inched the human race closer to proving it was not alone in the universe and could suggest the planet was “teeming with life”.

“If we confirm that there is life on K2-18b it should basically confirm that life is very common in the galaxy,” he told the BBC.

Madhusudhan hopes to prove the existence of alien life in the near future and told the BBC he was emboldened by the amount of gas his team found in a single observation window.

“This is the strongest evidence yet there is possibly life out there. I can realistically say that we can confirm this signal within one to two years.

“So, if the association with life is real, then this planet will be teeming with life.”

The exoplanet, a planet outside our solar system, is 8.6 times as massive as earth and 2.6 times as large.

This is not the first time signs life have been found on K2-18b, as astronomists previously detected signs of DMS, along with carbon-based molecules including methane and carbon dioxide.

The previous discovery was the first time carbon-based molecules were found in the atmosphere of an exoplanet in the habitable zone and added to studies suggesting it could be a Hycean planet – one with the potential to possess a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and a water ocean-covered surface.

Water vapour has also been detected on K2-18b, which hosts water and temperatures that could support life.

Madhusudhan and his team are hoping to conduct further research to determine whether DMS and DMDS can be produced non-biologically at the levels currently inferred.

“Decades from now, we may look back at this point in time and recognise it was when the living universe came within reach,” he said.

“This could be the tipping point, where suddenly the fundamental question of whether we’re alone in the universe is one we’re capable of answering.”

 

Rosie Shead and Rachel Vickers-Price
(Australian Associated Press)