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Astronomers thought they found signs of life on distant planet. New studies are skeptical
Astronomers thought they found signs of life on distant planet. New studies are skeptical

Yahoo

time3 days ago

  • General
  • Yahoo

Astronomers thought they found signs of life on distant planet. New studies are skeptical

Back in April, the world became captivated by the news that maybe, just maybe, we weren't alone in the universe after all. If extraterrestrials were to exist on a distant exoplanet as a team of astronomers theorized, it wouldn't exactly be intelligent life, but – hey – it was something. The explosive findings came from a team of researchers at the University of Cambridge who studied data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to find molecules in the atmosphere of a planet known as K2-18b that could have been created by organisms akin to marine algae. But then along came other independent astronomers who took their own look at the data and came to their own highly skeptical conclusions. A series of studies since the April 17 announcement have cast doubt on the sensational claim that what the initial researchers had found was "the strongest evidence yet" that life exists anywhere else besides Earth. "The data we have so far is much too noisy for the proof that would be needed to make that claim,' Rafael Luque, an astronomer at the University of Chicago, who led the most recent study, said in a statement. 'There's just not enough certainty to say one way or the other.' Here's everything to know about K2-18b, and just what potential it has to harbor alien life. K2-18b, which orbits a red dwarf star more than 120 light-years from Earth, has for years intrigued astronomers who believe it could be among the best places to search for signs of extraterrestrial life. The cosmic body is an exoplanet, meaning it orbits a star outside of Earth's own solar system. First discovered in 2015 during NASA's planet-hunting K2 mission, K2-18b likely orbits its star in what astronomers refer to as the "habitable zone" – where conditions could allow for water. In a nod to the classic fairy tale, astronomers even refer to these regions as "Goldilocks" zones because conditions have to be just right – neither too hot nor too cold – for water to remain in liquid form and pool on planetary surfaces. Interestingly, K2-18b, which is 8.6 times bigger than Earth, isn't rocky like our planet. Rather, observations have allowed scientists to conclude that the exoplanet could be a Hycean world covered by ocean water underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. Could alien life thrive on K2-18b? What to know about the distant exoplanet The latest findings on K2-18b came from a team of researchers led by Nikku Madhusudhan, an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge in England. Because the planet is too far and too faint to observe directly with ground telescopes, astronomers had to get creative. In this case, the team studied data from the Webb Telescope gathered from observing K2-18b as the planet crossed in front of its star, causing starlight to filter through the planet's atmosphere. As the light passed through the planet's atmosphere, different amounts of light were blocked at different wavelengths, depending on what molecules are present. That's what led Madhusudhan and his team to detect hints of sulfur-based gases dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) in the atmosphere – both molecules from the same chemical family. On Earth, the gases are only produced by life, primarily microbial life such as marine algae like phytoplankton, according to the researchers. Since then, at least three different studies have largely dismissed the notion that any compelling evidence has been found to yet suggest life exists on K2-18b. In the most recent study led by Luque, researchers reviewed data from multiple observations of the planet. After combining observations of K2-18b in both the near-infrared light and longer wavelengths of mid-infrared light, the team concluded that it did not detect dimethyl sulfide. What's more, they found that other molecules, not just those possibly indicating signs of life, could explain the questionable discovery. In an earlier study published to arXiv, Jake Taylor, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford, took a look at the Webb telescope data using a common data model for exoplanet studies and came to much the same conclusion: Taylor found no evidence of the atmospheric clues that were so integral in the Cambridge study's findings. Madhusudhan, who has issued rebuttals to some of the findings dismissing his potential discovery, has readily acknowledged that his team's observations are in need of further review. In announcing the findings, Madhusudhan conceded the molecules observed could have occurred by chance or could be the result of previously unknown chemical processes at work on K2-18b. Regardless, it appears astronomers all agree that we may not be as close as we thought to determining whether anything does indeed live on K2-18b. 'Answering whether there is life outside the solar system is the most important question of our field. It is why we are all studying these planets,' Luque said in a statement. 'We are making enormous progress in this field, and we don't want that to be overshadowed by premature declarations.' Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Planet K2-18b life signs discovery now in doubt

In Photos: Webb Telescope Reveals Massive Auroras On Jupiter
In Photos: Webb Telescope Reveals Massive Auroras On Jupiter

Forbes

time16-05-2025

  • Science
  • Forbes

In Photos: Webb Telescope Reveals Massive Auroras On Jupiter

These observations of Jupiter's auroras were captured with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's ... More NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on Dec. 25, 2023. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has revealed enormous swirling auroras on Jupiter for the first time. Hundreds of times more intense and brighter than those seen on Earth, they're caused both by high-energy particles from the sun but also from Jupiter's moon, Io — the most volcanic body in the solar system. The stunning images below reveal how the gas giant's magnetic field and atmospheric dynamics combine to produce something truly unique in the solar system. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured new details of the auroras on our solar system's ... More largest planet. The dancing lights observed on Jupiter are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth. All auroras occur when high-energy particles enter a planet's atmosphere near its magnetic poles. The particles, which travel to a planet from the sun as the solar wind, then collide with gas atoms in a planet's atmosphere to produce photons of light. That's a textbook explanation for Earth and Jupiter, but the gas giant planet has something extra that makes its auroras significantly more intense. Captured on December 25, 2023, using its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), the Webb Telescope's images of Jupiter's auroral emissions were possible because it can detect emissions from trihydrogen cation, a molecule formed when high-energy electrons strike molecular hydrogen. The resulting emission — high up in Jupiter's atmosphere — is bright in infrared light, which Webb is uniquely sensitive to. It's thought that Jupiter's strong magnetic field grabs charged particles from its surroundings — not only those from the solar wind but also those thrown into space by the large volcanoes on its moon Io. Aurora on Jupiter, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2014. Although Webb saw the auroras on Jupiter in 2023, the Hubble Space Telescope did not — despite the same observations being made simultaneously in the ultraviolet light by both space observatories. 'Bizarrely, the brightest light observed by Webb had no real counterpart in Hubble's pictures," said Jonathan Nichols from the University of Leicester in the U.K., who led the research. "This has left us scratching our heads. In order to cause the combination of brightness seen by both Webb and Hubble, we need to have a combination of high quantities of very low-energy particles hitting the atmosphere, which was previously thought to be impossible. We still don't understand how this happens.' Hubble photographed aurora around Jupiter's poles in 2016, which were also overseen by Nichols. The James Webb Space Telescope's 2022 image of Jupiter. Arguably, one of the most spectacular images of Jupiter ever taken was one from the Webb Telescope in 2022, as part of the Early Release Science program shortly after it began science operations. The image above, of Jupiter on July 27, 2022, was taken using Webb's NIRCam infrared instrument and showed the giant planet's mighty storms (including its 'Great Red Spot,' an Earth-sized anticyclonic storm), cloud bands, rings and unprecedented views of the planet's auroras over its north and south poles. The jaw-dropping image can be downloaded from the European Space Agency website. These observations of Jupiter's auroras (shown on the left of the above image) at 3.36 microns ... More (F335M) were captured with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on Dec. 25, 2023. Webb is the most ambitious and complex space science telescope ever constructed, with a massive 6.5-meter primary mirror that will be able to detect the faint light of far-away stars and galaxies. It's designed to detect infrared light emitted by distant stars, planets and clouds of gas and dust. During its initial 10-year mission, which began in 2022, Webb will study the solar system, directly image exoplanets, photograph the first galaxies, and explore the mysteries of the origins of the Universe. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

Webb captures Jupiter's surprisingly active Northern Lights
Webb captures Jupiter's surprisingly active Northern Lights

Yahoo

time16-05-2025

  • Science
  • Yahoo

Webb captures Jupiter's surprisingly active Northern Lights

A fresh look at Jupiter's powerful auroras with the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed never-before-seen details, and has uncovered a strange mystery for researchers to solve. On Christmas Day in 2023, a team of astronomers aimed the sensitive Webb Telescope at the largest planet in our solar system. Although this had been done before, they had a very specific target in mind — the intense auroras that surround the immense planet's magnetic north pole. While these Jovian Northern Lights had been imaged in the past, using the Hubble Space Telescope, Webb provided them with an unprecedented view, capturing the details of this phenomenon like never before. Jupiter's auroras (left) captured by the James Webb Space Telescope's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on Dec. 25, 2023. The image on the right shows the planet Jupiter to indicate the location of the observed auroras, which was originally published in 2023. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Ricardo Hueso (UPV), Imke de Pater (UC Berkeley), Thierry Fouchet (Observatory of Paris), Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester), Michael H. Wong (UC Berkeley), Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Jonathan Nichols (University of Leicester), Mahdi Zamani (ESA/Webb)) "What a Christmas present it was — it just blew me away!" Jonathan Nichols, the lead researcher of this study from the University of Leicester, said in a NASA press release. Auroras on Earth — the Northern Lights and Southern Lights — occur as high-energy particles from the Sun stream past the planet, either flowing on the solar wind or from massive eruptions of solar matter, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), sweeping by us. These particles are captured by our planet's geomagnetic field and funnelled down into the upper atmospehre. There, they collide with atoms and molecules of oxygen and nitrogen in the air, passing on their energy. The energized oxygen and nitrogen then release that energy as coloured flashes of light — greens and reds from oxygen, and mostly blue from nitrogen. The Northern Lights, spotted near Guelph, ON, on September 16, 2024. (Stormhunter Mark Robinson) This same process occurs on Jupiter, but with an additional source of high energy charged particles. While the planet's intense magnetic field captures particles from the solar wind and CMEs, it also picks up ionized particles from the innermost of its four largest moons. Io is the most volcanically active object in the solar system. Hundreds of volcanoes dot its surface, which are powered by the tidal stretching and squeezing induced by the gravitational 'tug-of-war' the moon endures as it orbits the planet and periodically passes by its neighbours, Europa and Ganymede. Io, imaged by NASA's Juno spacecraft during its 57th pass around Jupiter. The combinations of blemished and smooth terrain on the surface is due to nearly constant volcanic activity. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill) Jupiter's magnetic field acts like a particle accelerator, driving this combination of solar and volcanic ions down into the planet's upper atmosphere so they hit the atoms and molecules there at tremendous speeds. As a result, Jupiter's auroras glow extremely brightly. Since the process of producing auroras also generates heat, aka infrared light, Jovian auroras show up very brightly to Webb, which is specifically designed to capture that part of the spectrum of light. This allowed the researchers to get a very detailed view of the auroras, and spot how they changed with time. What they saw over the course of their observations surprised them. "We wanted to see how quickly the auroras change, expecting them to fade in and out ponderously, perhaps over a quarter of an hour or so," Nichols explained. "Instead, we observed the whole auroral region fizzing and popping with light, sometimes varying by the second." Three different views of Jupiter's auroras are shown here from Dec. 25, 2023, superimposed on an earlier JWST image of the planet. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Ricardo Hueso (UPV), Imke de Pater (UC Berkeley), Thierry Fouchet (Observatory of Paris), Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester), Michael H. Wong (UC Berkeley), Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Jonathan Nichols (University of Leicester), Mahdi Zamani (ESA/Webb)) Jupiter's auroras also produce a rare type of hydrogen known as the trihydrogen cation. Normal hydrogen gas is composed of two hydrogen atoms, thus there are two protons in the nucleus, which are surrounded by two electrons. In a trihydrogen cation, there are three protons surrounded by two electrons, which causes it to be positively charged. It was this very specific molecule that Nichols and his team were able to focus Webb onto, to gather the data for their study. According to NASA, detecting the emissions from these trihydrogen cations will help scientists understand how the upper atmosphere of Jupiter heats and cools. There was one odd thing that Nichols' team noticed in their observations. Auroras show up in various colours across the spectrum of visible light, such as green, red, and blue. However, when we use telescopes to see auroras on Jupiter, we only see them in infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths. In this case, JWST handled the infrared observations, while another telescope provided the ultraviolet view. "What made these observations even more special is that we also took pictures simultaneously in the ultraviolet with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope," Nichols explained. Comparing the images from opposite ends of the spectrum is where a mystery popped up. The assumption was that the brightest regions in both UV and IR light should match up. However, they didn't. "Bizarrely, the brightest light observed by Webb had no real counterpart in Hubble's pictures," Nichols said. "This has left us scratching our heads. In order to cause the combination of brightness seen by both Webb and Hubble, we need to have a combination of high quantities of very low-energy particles hitting the atmosphere, which was previously thought to be impossible. We still don't understand how this happens." The difference might be due to the abundance of particles from the Sun versus the abundance of volcanic particles from Io. Or, there may be something else going on here that they haven't accounted for. According to NASA, the research team plans on delving deeper into their comparison between the Webb and Hubble data they collected. They also plan on making further observations with Webb, which can be compared with data from the Juno spacecraft currently orbiting Jupiter. Click here to view the video

James Webb Telescope captures auroras on Jupiter: See stunning images, video
James Webb Telescope captures auroras on Jupiter: See stunning images, video

USA Today

time14-05-2025

  • Science
  • USA Today

James Webb Telescope captures auroras on Jupiter: See stunning images, video

James Webb Telescope captures auroras on Jupiter: See stunning images, video NASA's James Webb Telescope has captured auroras on Jupiter that have hundreds of times more energy than those here on Earth. Jupiter's auroras are like the "Northern Lights, but way bigger!" NASA Webb Telescope wrote in a post on X. NASA announced Monday that on Dec. 25, 2023, the telescope captured video of the stellar performance, as the lights dance in the planet's atmosphere, according to NASA's press release. 'What a Christmas present it was – it just blew me away!' Jonathan Nichols, of the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. 'We wanted to see how quickly the auroras change, expecting them to fade in and out ponderously, perhaps over a quarter of an hour or so." "Instead, we observed the whole auroral region fizzing and popping with light, sometimes varying by the second.' See images, video of bright light show on Jupiter James Webb captures Jupiter's shimmering aurora NASA'S James Webb Space Telescope captured new details of auroras on Jupiter. How are auroras made on Earth? Auroras happen when particles with a lot of energy enter the atmosphere of a planet near its magnetic poles, according to NASA. On our planet, these are known as Northern and Southern lights, and occur near the North and South Poles. On Earth, when solar storms occur, charged particles from the sun enter Earth's upper atmosphere, gases in the atmosphere get energized and this causes the famous red, green and purple auroras. NASA's Dragonfly passes key test: A look at its upcoming mission to Saturn's moon Why are Jupiter's auroras different from Earth's? Jupiter's astral show is much bigger and comes from multiple different sources. "The dancing lights observed on Jupiter are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth," NASA stated in a press release. The particles in Jupiter's atmosphere are basically supercharged. The planet's magnetic field snatches charged particles that are near it, like particles from solar winds, particles that are tossed into space by the gas giant's moon, Io, and particles released by the sun, which then causes the auroras, according to NASA. The planet's magnetic field then charges all those particles and causes them to accelerate. "These speedy particles slam into the planet's atmosphere at high energies, which excites the gas and causes it to glow," according to NASA. Because of how sensitive the Webb telescope is, astronomers are able to study the planet's aurora "to better understand Jupiter's magnetosphere," the space agency stated. Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. Connect with her on LinkedIn,X, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz, or email her at jgomez@

Detailed New Images of Jupiter's Aurora Reveal Strange and Unexplained Brightness
Detailed New Images of Jupiter's Aurora Reveal Strange and Unexplained Brightness

Gizmodo

time13-05-2025

  • Science
  • Gizmodo

Detailed New Images of Jupiter's Aurora Reveal Strange and Unexplained Brightness

NASA's Webb space telescope has captured haunting new views of Jupiter's auroral display, revealing the bright light show in exquisite, never-before-seen details. Using the telescope's most recent observations of the gas giant, scientists uncovered a curious discrepancy between how Jupiter's auroras appear to Webb versus Hubble. Webb's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) zoomed into Jupiter's poles to capture the planet's fast-varying auroral features, which are 100 times brighter than the ones seen on Earth. 'We wanted to see how quickly the auroras change, expecting them to fade in and out ponderously, perhaps over a quarter of an hour or so,' Jonathan Nichols, a researcher at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, and lead author of a new paper published in the journal Nature Communications, said in a statement. 'Instead, we observed the whole auroral region fizzing and popping with light, sometimes varying by the second.' On Earth, auroras take place when energetic particles from the Sun interact with the planet's magnetic field and its atmosphere, creating shimmering displays of light across the skies known as the Northern and Southern Lights. Aside from the Sun's particles, Jupiter has an additional source that creates its auroras. Jupiter's strong magnetic field grabs charged particles from its surroundings and accelerates them to high speeds. These speedy particles, some of which are thrown into space by Jupiter's orbiting moon Io, slam into the planet's atmosphere at high energies and excite the gas, causing it to glow. Using Webb's recent observations of Jupiter's aurora, the scientists studied emissions from a molecule called trihydrogen cation. The special molecule is formed when energetic particles rip an electron off of a hydrogen molecule, and that molecule then reacts with other hydrogen molecules. The study found that the trihydrogen cation emissions are far more variable than they previously believed. Understanding the behavior of the special molecule helps scientists better understand how Jupiter's atmosphere cools and heats. The scientists also took images of Jupiter's auroras with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope at the same time Webb made its observations, capturing them in ultraviolet light. They uncovered a strange discrepancy between the two sets of data, the brightest light observed by Webb had no real counterpart in the Hubble images. 'This has left us scratching our heads,' Nichols said. 'In order to cause the combination of brightness seen by both Webb and Hubble, we need to have a combination of high quantities of very low-energy particles hitting the atmosphere, which was previously thought to be impossible. We still don't understand how this happens.' The team plans on carrying out follow-up observations of Jupiter's auroras using Webb and compare them to data collected by the ongoing Juno mission. The spacecraft has been orbiting the gas giant since 2016, capturing Jupiter and its moons in exquisite detail. Webb previously captured images of Jupiter's glowing auroras at its north and south poles, providing scientists with a new perspective of the planet's light display in infrared wavelengths.

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