The space agency said there may be dimethyl sulfide in K2-18b, which is a byproduct of phytoplankton in Earth’s marine environments.
NASA scientists have announced the existence of a planet that may be completely covered in water, and signs of possible life have also been found there. The Guardian reported this.
Researchers have named the exoplanet K2-18b, which orbits a cooler and smaller star than the Sun, 120 light-years away.
Its diameter is 2.6 times the diameter of Earth, while the planet has 8.6 times the mass of Earth. It is also located close to its star in the so-called habitable zone. This means that this planet has conditions suitable for the existence of liquid water.
In addition, the space agency said its observations of the planet’s atmospheric chemistry suggest the possibility of an ocean world.
“The abundance of methane and carbon dioxide, as well as the lack of ammonia, supports the hypothesis that a water ocean could exist beneath the hydrogen-rich atmosphere on K2-18b,” the report said.
According to scientists, dimethyl sulfide (DMS) molecules, which on Earth are produced only by living organisms, have also been found on this planet. However, these data remain to be confirmed.
This is how a planet not far from us can become an ocean world, which can also be habitable. But scientists are cautious about the findings because more observations of K2-18b need to be done to get more information about the planet.
It was previously reported that astronomers discovered an exoplanet similar to Tatooini, like the fictional world of Luke Skywalker from Star Wars.
Source: korrespondent
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