Regardless of whether or not K2-18 b does harbor alien lifeforms, the results of the new study further highlight that Hycean worlds may be ideal places to look for extraterrestrial life. Related: Humans will never live on an exoplanet, Nobel Laureate says These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. But the Webb’s views of Neptune, taken in July, provide an unprecedented. ![]() 7 shows a second, wavering dark spot, wider than the Atlantic Ocean, on the planet Neptune. Ground-based observatories and the Hubble Space Telescope have taken many images of Neptune in the past three decades. It is also possible that some unknown geological process could produce the chemical instead of biological life, they added. Neptunes and Uranus’ blue color is a result of the absorption of red light by the planets’ methane-rich atmosphere, combined with the same Rayleigh-scattering process that makes the Earths sky blue. An image made by the Hubble Space Telescope’s wide field camera on Jan. However, the evidence of DMS "requires further validation," researchers wrote in a statement. It is made from sulfur, carbon and hydrogen and is the most abundant organic form of sulfur in Earth's atmosphere, which makes it one of the key biosignatures, or signs of biological life, on our planet. Researchers also detected what they believe are traces of dimethyl sulfide (DMS), a foul-smelling chemical that is only known to be produced by microscopic life in Earth's oceans.ĭMS is primarily emitted by phytoplankton, or photosynthetic algae, in Earth's oceans. However, even if K2-18 b does have an ocean, there is no guarantee that it would be suitable for life: It may be too hot to support life or lack the required nutrients and chemicals to spark life. Hycean worlds are a prime candidate to harbor extraterrestrial life. (Image credit: Amanda Smith / University of Cambridge) It’s this methane gas that gives the ice giant its signature blue color in images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope’s visible wavelengths. ![]() It’s the outermost planet of our solar system, orbiting in one of the dimmest and most remote areas. An artist's interpretation of what a hycean planet might look like. The planet Neptune is far, far away more than 2.7 billion miles from Earth to be exact. When the Hubble Space Telescope looked at Neptune in 1994, the Great Dark Spot was gone and a different dark spot had appeared in the northern atmosphere of.
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