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The James Webb Space Telescope has sparked rumors of discovering a planet with potential evidence of life.
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The Spectator's headline asks if aliens have been discovered, but the answer is not a definitive "no."
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Comments from astrophysicist Rebecca Smethurst and astronaut Tim Peake suggest strong signals of biological life on a distant planet.
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The exoplanet in question is K2-18 b, 8.6 times the mass of Earth and located 120 light years away, possibly a "hycean" exoplanet with water oceans and a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.
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NASA officials, responsible for the Webb telescope, deny definitive evidence of life but acknowledge potential biosignatures.
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Knicole Colón, the telescope's deputy project scientist, mentions the need for future missions to establish the habitability of exoplanets.
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Webb telescope observations of K2-18 b include the detection of dimethyl sulfide, an organic compound associated with Earth's phytoplankton metabolism.
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Dimethyl sulfide on K2-18 b is intriguing but not conclusive evidence of life; more data and new instruments are required for a definitive conclusion.
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There is a robust scientific debate about the telescope's measurements of water, methane, and dimethyl sulfide.