Exoplanet K2-18b

[NiftyNiblick]

Thanks.

It's a shame if we lost Frank.

That leaves me EE as a geriatric companion,
and you know how WE get along.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

Exoplanet research is some of the coolest out there!

I love how NASA practically buried that nugget about detections of DSM molecules. A good conservative scientific approach to not get to excited until further validation and corroboration.

The British tabloids were making DSM the lead in their articles, and playing it up as evidence of life

Which brings up a point that the poorly educated Trumpers often scream about; they read the tabloids and not the facts about global warming then claim the scientists are both wrong and liars when things don't turn out as the tabloids stated.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

Thanks.

It's a shame if we lost Frank.

That leaves me EE as a geriatric companion,
and you know how WE get along.

You two should kiss and make up....but only after you read a few history books.

BTW, Guno is about your age.

 

[Damocles]

we need to start naming these better. especially the ones in the goldilocks zone.

 

[Truth Detector]

Webb Discovers Methane, Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere of K2-18 b

A new investigation with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope into K2-18 b, an exoplanet 8.6 times as massive as Earth, has revealed the presence of carbon-bearing molecules including methane and carbon dioxide. Webb’s discovery adds to recent studies suggesting that K2-18 b could be a Hycean exoplanet, one which has the potential to possess a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and a water ocean-covered surface.

The abundance of methane and carbon dioxide, and shortage of ammonia, support the hypothesis that there may be a water ocean underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere in K2-18 b. These initial Webb observations also provided a possible detection of a molecule called dimethyl sulfide (DMS). On Earth, this is only produced by life. The bulk of the DMS in Earth’s atmosphere is emitted from phytoplankton in marine environments.

K2-18 b orbits the cool dwarf star K2-18 in the habitable zone and lies 120 light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo. Exoplanets such as K2-18 b, which have sizes between those of Earth and Neptune, are unlike anything in our solar system.

https://www.nasa.gov/goddard/2023/webb-discovers-methane-carbon-dioxide-in-atmosphere-of-k2-18b

Get back to us when they get samples to prove that theory.

 

[Cypress]

Which brings up a point that the poorly educated Trumpers often scream about; they read the tabloids and not the facts about global warming then claim the scientists are both wrong and liars when things don't turn out as the tabloids stated.

I keep telling Trump ass-lickers to read NASA or NOAA for reputable climate science information, rather than the Moonie Washington Times or some Rightwing blog.

 

[Cypress]

we need to start naming these better. especially the ones in the goldilocks zone.

I've gotten tired of the names from Greco-Roman mythology, so I have long advocated using names from Norse and Slavic mythology.

My pick is Svarog, the Slavic god of fire.

 

[Damocles]

I've gotten tired of the names from Greco-Roman mythology, so I have long advocated using names from Norse and Slavic mythology.

My pick is Svarog, the Slavic god of fire.

nice.

 

[Phantasmal]

Excuse me for changing the subject, Oom,
but you seem to know the mods and administrators much better than I do.

Have CFM [Banjo Fuck],
Frank Apisa,
and Asshat Zombie [or whatever Fredo last called himself]
all passed away?

I miss at least one of those three,
but it appears that they've all died.

Asshat is on a temporary vacation
CFM a permanent vacation
Frank, I hope he isn’t dead.

 

[evince]

detections of DSM molecules



Very compelling

 

[Cypress]

The article suggested the oceans may be too hot for life or not liquid, meaning gaseous to me. IDK. The Earth used to be super hot and then cooled.

Since the article mentions "habitable zone", I'm presuming that astronomers are taking into account solar heating; smaller, cooler stars would have a closer habitable zone than larger, hotter stars.

You're right about NASA using the term massive.

If there was photosynthesis on this planet, we would see evidence of the spectral signatures of free oxygen in the atmosphere.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

You're right about NASA using the term massive.

If there was photosynthesis on this planet, we would see evidence of the spectral signatures of free oxygen in the atmosphere.

Not a biologist, but can't anaerobic life exist without producing oxygen?

 

[Cypress]

Not a biologist, but can't anaerobic life exist without producing oxygen?

Chemosynthesis and anaerobic processes are certainly possible metabolic pathways.

 

[Damocles]

Not a biologist, but can't anaerobic life exist without producing oxygen?

oxygen killed off life on this planet before....

https://asm.org/Articles/2022/Febru...h was formed,primarily of nitrogen and oxygen.

 

[Cypress]

oxygen killed off life on this planet before....

https://asm.org/Articles/2022/Febru...h was formed,primarily of nitrogen and oxygen.

It took about a billion years for cyanobacteria to harness sunlight via photosynthesis for metabolism.

Life needs energy, and stellar radiation is the most abundant supply of energy in the universe. I would be surprised that a planet with an established ecosystem wouldn't eventually evolve to harness stellar radiation. Unless access to stellar radiation is severely restricted at the planet surface.

 

[Saint Guinefort]

oxygen killed off life on this planet before....

https://asm.org/Articles/2022/Febru...h was formed,primarily of nitrogen and oxygen.

Yes the great oxygen holocaust as it is sometimes known. But the life it killed off was not the aerobic type. This holocaust created conditions for us aerobes to start to exist in large numbers.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

oxygen killed off life on this planet before....

https://asm.org/Articles/2022/Febru...h was formed,primarily of nitrogen and oxygen.

Thanks for the link. Sybil will be distressed to learn methane is a greenhouse gas.

It makes sense that the O2 generated by cyanobacteria would have an adverse effect on anaerobic, driving it deeper into the oceans.

Coincidentally, that happened about 2.7B years ago when Earth was about 2B years old, about the current age of K2 18b.

 

[Damocles]

Thanks for the link. Sybil will be distressed to learn methane is a greenhouse gas.

It makes sense that the O2 generated by cyanobacteria would have an adverse effect on anaerobic, driving it deeper into the oceans.

Coincidentally, that happened about 2.7B years ago when Earth was about 2B years old, about the current age of K2 18b.

K2-18B is only 120 light years from earth, so the information in this case is relatively current, the atmosphere would not change that much in just 120 years.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

K2-18B is only 120 light years from earth, so the information in this case is relatively current, the atmosphere would not change that much in just 120 years.

Agreed. The age estimate of K2-18B is 2.4B years compared to the Earth's 4.5B. https://www.justplainpolitics.com/showthread.php?207184-Exoplanet-K2-18b&p=5782429#post5782429

To reiterate; 2.7B years ago, the Earth's atmosphere was much like K2-18B's is now. If the DSM indications are true, then life exists on K2-18B, probably anaerobic life given the nature of the observed atmosphere.

As Cypress and I have discussed on other threads, life, and the laws of evolution, seem to produce increasingly more advanced lifeforms and intelligence. Part of this is that predators need to be more intelligent than their prey in order to survive. Prey needs to reproduce prodigiously and/or be smarter than the predators to survive as a species. Over time, this produces intelligent prey and more intelligent predators.

Not a biologist, but given that oxygen-fueled life is more efficient than anaerobic life, it makes sense that aerobic life would eventually evolve on K2-18B.

 

[Saint Guinefort]

To reiterate; 2.7B years ago, the Earth's atmosphere was much like K2-18B's is now. If the DSM indications are true, then life exists on K2-18B, probably anaerobic life given the nature of the observed atmosphere.

Dimethyl sulfide is usually produced by phytoplankton which are photosynthesizing which would be aerobic life I should think.