The idea of extraterrestrial life on other planets has fascinated us for centuries. It has even become a staple of pop culture, referenced in everything from science fiction movies to cartoons and songs. While the idea may seem intriguing, we cannot know if any contactable life would even be on the same evolutionary level as us. They could be highly advanced beyond our wildest comprehension. However, they could equally end up being simple organisms with no perceivable intellect. There is also the scarcity of planets with environments suitable for the development of life. However, as small as the chances may be of us finding them, there must be planets with extraterrestrial life somewhere out there. Recently, researchers believe they may have discovered such a planet.
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The Potential For Extraterrestrial Life
What would extraterrestrial life look like? In the 1960s, they were presented as little green men in science fiction movies of the time. The modern portrayal of aliens typically takes the form of a grey alien with a bulbous head and large black eyes. However, when it comes to looking for alien life on other planets, we really have no idea what to expect. Imagine if an alien visited Earth billions of years ago. What would they have found in terms of life? Most likely, they would have encountered single-cell organisms and microbes. The same could happen if we visited a habitable planet in the early stages of its development.
Yet, before we even landed on a potentially inhabited planet, there would be tangible signs of life, such as a faint chemical signal. This occurred recently with the planet Venus, for example. Scientists managed to detect strange pockets of phosphine in Venus’ upper atmosphere. This typically only occurs in such high volume when there is life present, as observed on our planet. Closer analysis revealed that it was likely nothing, yet it is an example of the signs of extraterrestrial life that scientists look out for.
It was the first signal in a considerable amount of time that they considered worth investigating – until recently, that is. A team of scientists recently published a paper announcing that they had detected something noteworthy on an exoplanet known as K2-18b. The team announced that they had detected the presence of dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide. This follows an initial detection of dimethyl sulfide on K2-18b that occurred in 2023. What makes this chemical distinct from other detectable chemicals is that on Earth, it is solely produced by living organisms.
Too Far Away To Look At
The majority of exoplanets we are aware of are too far away to observe. This is why scientists analyze the chemical makeup of the exoplanets’ atmospheres to try to learn more about what could lie on the planet’s surface. This is accomplished by looking at the starlight filtering through the planet’s gaseous layers as it completes its transit in front of a star. Different chemicals in the atmosphere will block the starlight’s various wavelengths. The scientists are able to detect which wavelengths are filtered out, thus revealing what the atmosphere is composed of. While astronomers have made leaps and bounds in detecting these chemicals, it’s still a challenging process. They need to make sure that they get rid of any erroneous spectrum spikes and false positives.
For example, an undetected gas cloud between us and the exoplanet could potentially result in a false positive. This is why the first thing the astronomers tried to do was rule out any potentially mistaken signals. Yet, even after exhausting all possibilities, they could not find any other cause for what they had detected besides the composition of the atmosphere. The leading theory regarding K2-18b’s makeup is that it is a Hycean world.
Similar in density and size to Neptune, these worlds are covered entirely by an ocean of water. While these worlds are yet to be proven, current evidence suggests that there is a strong chance of their existence. If K2-18b is indeed a Hycean world, the quantity of dimethyl sulfide present could indicate the existence of life. This means that the ocean could be brimming with marine algae, for example. It may not be as captivating as grey aliens, but it would change much of our current understanding of the universe.
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