K2B The Planet Which Could have Life Like Earth

Transcript

00:00Scientists say they have obtained the strongest evidence yet of life beyond our solar system.

00:05Using the James Webb Space Telescope, researchers say they detected in an exoplanet's atmosphere

00:10the chemical fingerprints of gases that on Earth are produced only by biological processes.

00:15The presence of these gases that are generated on Earth by living organisms

00:19suggests the exoplanet may be teeming with microbial life, according to the researchers.

00:24Based on our current understanding, the only scenario that explains all of this

00:28is one where it's a Haitian world that is teeming with life.

00:31And what is a Haitian world? It's an ocean-covered surface

00:35with a thin hydrogen-rich atmosphere and the ocean being habitable.

00:39The scientists stress that they are not announcing the discovery of actual living organisms,

00:43but rather a possible biosignature, an indicator of a biological process.

00:48This is a monumental discovery. It is very important, but we also have to be extremely

00:55cautious and we have to deal with it very carefully in that we want to be really,

00:59really robust in establishing whether this is actually life that we are seeing.