A molecule almost exclusively produced by life on Earth has been detected in the atmosphere of a distant exoplanet, a world far larger than our own and of a type long considered inhospitable. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has identified the potential presence of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) on a “sub-Neptune” planet 120 light-years away. This landmark discovery challenges long-held assumptions about where the building blocks of life might be found and dramatically expands the types of worlds astronomers will now scrutinise in the search for extraterrestrial life.
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An international team of researchers, led by Professor Nikku Madhusudhan at the University of Cambridge, published their groundbreaking findings today in the journal Nature Astronomy. The focus of their study was TOI-2770 c, an exoplanet roughly 2.5 times the radius of Earth, orbiting a red dwarf star in the constellation Pictor. The planet sits squarely in its star’s habitable zone, the region where temperatures could allow for liquid water to exist on a planet’s surface.
The JWST’s powerful instruments detected a rich atmospheric composition, including significant amounts of methane and carbon dioxide. While intriguing, the most stunning find was a tentative signal corresponding to dimethyl sulfide. On Earth, DMS is a gas produced almost entirely by phytoplankton in marine environments, playing a crucial role in cloud formation and climate regulation. Finding it elsewhere suggests the possibility of similar biological processes at play.
The team also noted a distinct lack of ammonia, which chemical models predicted should be abundant in such a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. They theorise that the presence of a vast liquid water ocean could be responsible for dissolving the ammonia, lending strong support to the idea that TOI-2770 c is a “Hycean” world—a hot, ocean-covered planet with a hydrogen-heavy atmosphere.
How Webb Pinpointed These Faint Signals
Detecting the chemical makeup of an atmosphere 120 light-years away
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Sources: NASA Official | European Space Agency
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