The James Webb Space Telescope spotted a molecule called dimethyl sulfide—which is only unique to life on Earth—on a far-away exoplanet. What does it mean?
The Webb Space Telescope recently turned its focus to a nearby exoplanet and found that it may be a Hycean world, or a world completely covered in a single global ocean, and with a hydrogen atmosphere. And what’s more, the telescope detected a possible detection—note, possible detection, of dimethyl sulfide, a molecule only known to be produced on Earth by living organisms.
The James Webb Space Telescope investigated a giant planet, K2-18b, that could be an ocean world, according to NASA. The exoplanet lies 120 light-years away from Earth.