Posted on 09/20/2023 2:24:04 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: Where else might life exist? One of humanity's great outstanding questions, locating planets where extrasolar life might survive took a step forward in 2019 with the discovery of a significant amount of water vapor in the atmosphere of distant exoplanet K2-18b. The planet and its parent star, K2-18, lie about 124 light years away toward the constellation of the Lion (Leo). The exoplanet is significantly larger and more massive than our Earth, but orbits in the habitable zone of its home star. K2-18, although more red than our Sun, shines in K2-18b's sky with a brightness similar to the Sun in Earth's sky. The 2019 discovery of atmospheric water was made in data from three space telescopes: Hubble, Spitzer, and Kepler, by noting the absorption of water-vapor colors when the planet moved in front of the star. Now in 2023, further observations by the Webb Space Telescope in infrared light have uncovered evidence of other life-indicating molecules -- including methane. The featured illustration imagines exoplanet K2-18b on the far right orbited by a moon (center), which together orbit a red dwarf star depicted on the lower left.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
Can SpaceX go retrieve the methane?
Interplanetary cow farts will kill us all.
5.56mm
Looks like land and water but no lights on the dark side.
An alien farted
“locating planets where extrasolar life might survive took a step forward”
No, finding one thing that might support life on a planet where that is missing 8 or 9 other elements needed to support life is not taking a step forward. You’re still in the same spot you always were, where Earth is the only planet in the universe known to be capable of supporting life.
A fossil fuel?
Methane found on distant exoplanet: climate change “scientists” alarmed
Argghh ...
That’s not astronomy data ... that’s just some jerkoff’s “impression” of what the exoplanet “might” look like. Utterly worthless, and confusing to non-scientists.
See #11
Methane found on distant exoplanet: women and minorities hurt the most.
Another announcement that gets some people’s hopes up that we finally have found alien life. Not so fast. No one has confirmed life there yet.
So the planet picture is a fake? Some imaginary image of what it should look like?
He that smelt it, dealt it.
Titan is also covered in methane; it doesn’t mean life.
So the planet picture is a fake? Some imaginary image of what it should look like?
Those are artists renditions of what exoplanets “could” look like. We really can’t see them that close.
THAT picture is an “artist’s conception” of what the planet might look like. The actual data will consist of a handful of pixels imaged through a spectrometer. Very interesting to astronomers, but not particularly exciting for anybody else to look at.
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