NASA discovered a planet twice as big as Earth with a gas that is 'only produced by life' [View all]

NASA's James Webb Telescope picked up a 'possible detection' of a molecule which 'on Earth is only produced by life'

Poppy Bilderbeck

Updated 19:00 26 Apr 2024 GMT+1
Published 19:01 26 Apr 2024 GMT+1



Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images

An exoplanet has been found by NASA which is '8.6 times' as big as Earth with a gas present that's produced mainly by life.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope was launched on 25 2021 on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana in South America and last year, it made a very exciting discovery.

The planet
An exoplanet called K2-18 b - also known as EPIC 201912552 b - orbits the red dwarf K2-18 in what NASA says is a 'habitable zone'.

It's located 124 light years away from earth and is around 2.6 times the radius of Earth and 8.6 times the mass of Earth.

It was first discovered by NASA's Kepler space telescope which launched in 2009, however, during the Webb Telescope's mission, the planet's atmosphere was looked into more closely.

The findings
Last year, it was discovered K2-18b has a 'presence of carbon-bearing molecules including methane and carbon dioxide' - NASA revealed.

More:
https://www.unilad.com/technology/nasa/nasa-planet-twice-size-earth-methane-gas-398351-20240426