Finding water for the first time on a planet can be inhabited

For the first time, astronomers discovered water in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting an area that could be inhabited by a distant galaxy.

The search for water makes the New World, dubbed K2-18B, a likely candidate for research on extraterrestrial life.

In 10 years, new telescopes may be able to determine if the atmosphere in K-2B contains gases that may be produced by organisms.

The details were published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Professor Giovanna Tenetti, a professor at University College London, described the discovery as "staggering".

"This is the first time we discover water on a planet in the region where we can live around a star of temperature that corresponds to the existence of life," Tenetti said.

The area that can be inhabited is the area around a star where the temperature allows the water to be in a liquid state on the surface of a planet.

The K2 -18B is 111 light-years from Earth, about 650 million miles, a distance that exceeds the capacity of any probe.

The only option is to wait for the next generation of space telescopes, which will be launched in the next 10 years, and to see in the air gases that can only be produced by living organisms, said Ingo Waldman, professor at University College London.

"This is one of the biggest scientific questions and we have always wondered if we are alone in the universe, we will know in ten years and we will know if there are chemicals resulting from life in this atmosphere . "

The Planet Investigation Team explored the Hubble Space Telescope between 2016 and 2017. Researchers have identified certain chemicals in their atmosphere by studying the change of starlight as stars revolved around their suns. .

The light that goes through the atmosphere of the planet changes because of the composition of the atmosphere.

The molecular structure of water has only been revealed in K2-18B, an essential component of life on Earth. A computer generated data model suggested that water could account for 50% of the atmosphere.

The size of the new planet is about twice that of the Earth and its temperature allows the water to be in the liquid state, between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius.

Angelus Tsarias, a member of the University College London team, said finding water on a planet fit for life was "incredibly exciting".

"It brings us closer to the key question: Is the Earth a unique planet?" Said Tsarias.

On the long term

One of the difficulties facing researchers is that scientists do not agree with the gases, signs of life. Their agreement can take a long time.

For that, it may be necessary to study the chemical composition of hundreds of worlds and understand how they form and grow, Tenetti said.

"The Earth is alone in the solar system – it is oxygen, water and ozone, but if we find it all around a distant planet we must be careful not to say that it is possible to have life, "she said.

"That 's why we have to understand that it' s not just a few planets in the galaxy, but hundreds of them. What we hope for, is the discovery of planets that the planet is going through. we can find on them and see a big difference between the planets on which life and other planets can be found. "

Researcher Beth Peller of the Edinburgh University's Institute of Astronomy said that she thought that evidence of life on a planet around a star far away would eventually be discovered.

"It will be a change in the course of humanity," she told the BBC.

"It will not look like an ET movie, but microbes or other kinds of simple beings, even if it is, finding life in its simplest form will be enormous. . "

The launch of NASA's planned telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, in 2021 and the European Space Agency's mission six years later, will allow astronomers to study the details of the atmosphere of the different worlds discovered until now.

Water was found on other planets, but it was too big or too hot to live. Smaller, less heated planets are difficult to detect.

The research team at University College London has been able to do this by developing algorithms to determine the chemical composition of the atmosphere of the worlds conducive to life.

The K2-18B was discovered in 2015 and is one of hundreds of Earth planets at Neptune discovered by NASA's Kepler probe. NASA's Tess mission is expected to find hundreds of other planets in the coming years.

The research was funded by the European Research Council and the British Council for Science and Technology.