Last week, it was announced that gases that could be associated with life were discovered in the atmosphere of a distant planet called K2-18b. This discovery was described as the strongest evidence to date that life could exist on a planet outside the Solar System. However, a new analysis shows that these interpretations may be unfounded.

Hopes for life outside Earth have diminished considerably

Jake Taylor from Oxford University re-examined the atmosphere of K2-18b using data obtained from the James Webb Space Telescope. The analysis did not find any obvious signals that could be associated with life. Taylor emphasizes that much more observations are needed to be able to talk about a biological trace.

Laura Kreidberg from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany shares a similar view. Kreidberg said that the assumptions used in the analyses could significantly affect the results and that more objective methods should be preferred.

On the other hand, the team claiming that there could be life in space states that they are not concerned about the results of their analyses. Mans Holmberg stated that the atmospheric model they used was quite reliable compared to its peers.

Jake Taylor continues to emphasize that his method is valid. Taylor reminded us that this type of analysis is frequently used in James Webb observations and has yielded effective results in the detection of molecules such as water and carbon dioxide in the past.

The discussions are expected to grow even more. Because the dataset obtained from the James Webb Space Telescope was made completely public the other day. This will allow more researchers to examine the data with independent methods.

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