It's life Jim...!! Another great discovery by the James Webb Space Telescope??
Scientists Find 'Strongest Evidence Yet' of Life on Distant Planet
"Scientists have found new but tentative evidence that a faraway world orbiting another star may be home to life.
A Cambridge team studying the atmosphere of a planet called K2-18b has detected signs of molecules which on Earth are only produced by simple organisms.
This is the second, and more promising, time chemicals associated with life have been detected in the planet's atmosphere by Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
But the team and independent astronomers stress that more data is needed to confirm these results.
The lead researcher, Prof Nikku Madhusudhan, told me at his lab at Cambridge University's Institute of Astronomy that he hopes to obtain the clinching evidence soon.
"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."
2-18b is two-and-a-half times the size of Earth and is 700 trillion miles, or 124 light years, away from us - a distance far beyond what any human could travel in a lifetime.
JWST is so powerful that it can analyse the chemical composition of the planet's atmosphere from the light that passes through from the small red Sun it orbits.
The Cambridge group has found that the atmosphere seems to contain the chemical signature of at least one of two molecules that are associated with life: dimethyl sulphide (DMS) and dimethyl disulphide (DMDS). On Earth, these gases are produced by marine phytoplankton and bacteria.
Prof Madhusudhan said he was surprised by how much gas was apparently detected during a single observation window.
"The amount we estimate of this gas in the atmosphere is thousands of times higher than what we have on Earth," he said.
"So, if the association with life is real, then this planet will be teeming with life," he added.
Prof Madhusudhan went further: "If we confirm that there is life on K2-18b, it should basically confirm that life is very common in the galaxy."[/i
First Celestial Image Unveiled from Revolutionary Telescope
"A powerful new telescope in Chile has released its first images, showing off its unprecedented ability to peer into the dark depths of the universe.
In one picture, vast colourful gas and dust clouds swirl in a star-forming region 9,000 light years from Earth.
The Vera C Rubin observatory, home to the world's most powerful digital camera, promises to transform our understanding of the universe.
If a ninth planet exists in our solar system, scientists say this telescope would find it in its first year.
It should detect killer asteroids in striking distance of Earth and map the Milky Way. It will also answer crucial questions about dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up most of our universe.
This once-in-a-generation moment for astronomy is the start of a continuous 10-year filming of the southern night sky.
"I personally have been working towards this point for about 25 years. For decades we wanted to build this phenomenal facility and to do this type of survey," says Professor Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland.
The UK is a key partner in the survey and will host data centres to process the extremely detailed snapshots as the telescope sweeps the skies capturing everything in its path.
Vera Rubin could increase the number of known objects in our solar system tenfold."
