- Space telescope 目的（とする）s to 確認する major finding on distant 惑星?K2-18b?
- World is more than eight times the 集まり of Earth and 120 light-y ears away
天文学者s could finally show that 外国人 life does 存在する on a distant 惑星 に引き続いて 観察s today.?
惑星 K2-18b ? which is more than twice as big as Earth and 120 light-years away ? sits within the habitable zone of its 星／主役にする in the Leo 星座.??
Scientists said last year they thought they'd （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd?dimethyl sulphide gas in its atmosphere ? a 構内／化合物 that is 'only produced by life'.
Now, to 確認する the finding, the James Webb Space Telescope will 請け負う hours of 観察s of the 惑星 on Friday.??
However, space fans will have to wait several months for the results to be authenticated and published.
Scientists made an exciting and 潜在的に ground-breaking 発見 in the search for 外国人 life - after （悪事，秘密などを）発見するing 調印するs of a gas produced only by living organisms on a distant water 惑星 known as?K2-18b (pictured in an artist's impression)
（犯罪，病気などの）発見: A gas 'uniquely associated with life' when 設立する on Earth has been discovered in the atmosphere of K2-18 b.?The 構内／化合物 dimethyl sulphide was spotted along with?large 量s of 炭酸ガス and methane (pictured)
調査s of 惑星 K2-18b are 存在 led by Dr Nikku Madhusudhan, an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge.?
He's called it a 'hycean' world ? a 比較して new 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 he coined for a rocky 惑星 with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and oceans of water.
'If we do （悪事，秘密などを）発見する DMS [on K2-18b] it does put it 基本的に at the 最高の，を越す for 可能性のある 調印するs of habitability,' he told the Times.?
K2-18b ? more than eight times the 集まり of Earth and over twice as big ? was discovered in 2015.
But it was only in 2019 that?the presence of water vapour in K2-18b's atmosphere?was 報告（する）／憶測d.?
Then, last year, the James Webb telescope （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd 炭酸ガス and methane?in its atmosphere, 同様に as a 不足 of ammonia.
Dr Madhusudhan called this a 'very 深遠な moment' because it supports the theory that there's a water ocean underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.
But it was the presence of something else that got 天文学者s even more excited.?
惑星 K2-18b - more than eight times the 集まり of Earth and 120 light-years away - sits within the habitable zone of its 星／主役にする in the Leo 星座. It's closer to its 星／主役にする than the Earth is to the sun, meaning it has shorter years, 完全にするing its 軌道 in 33 days while ours takes 365
It is thought to be a 'Hycean' world (描写するd) - a new class of exoplanet 所有するing 重要な 成分s for 外国人 種類 because of their hydrogen-rich atmospheres and oceans of water
More 観察s by the James Webb Space Telescope (pictured) could 確認する the presence of DMS in the 惑星's atmosphere?
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初期の Webb 観察s 供給するd a possible （犯罪，病気などの）発見 of a 分子 called dimethyl 硫化物 (DMS), which on Earth is 'only produced by life'.?
The 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of the DMS in Earth’s atmosphere is emitted from phytoplankton in 海洋 環境s ? 示唆するing a 類似の form of life on the distant 惑星.
In fact, scientists have been unable to think of any natural 地質学の or 化学製品 過程 that could create DMS without living organisms.?
Dr Madhusudhan said the finding was a shock but because they were 初期の 観察s he could only say with 50 per cent 信用／信任 there is DMS on?K2-18b.?
'It was a real shock, I had sleepless nights for a week,' he 追加するd.
'That week, I didn’t even 召集（する） the courage to break it to my own team.'??
Today, eight hours of 観察s by the James Webb telescope should 供給する a 最終的な answer ? although the 専門家 will have to spend months poring over the data to get it.
航空宇宙局's?$10 billion (£7.4 billion) 観測所 is able to analyse the?化学製品 make-up of a distant 惑星 by 逮捕（する）ing the light from its host 星／主役にする after it has passed through the 惑星's atmosphere on its way to Earth.?
Gases in the atmosphere 吸収する some of the starlight but each leave tell-tale 署名s in the?spectrum of light?that 天文学者s can then unpick.?
James Webb telescope has （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd 重要な 分子s, as 描写するd in this graph from a paper published last year. Today, the 観測所 will be 特に searching for?dimethyl 硫化物 (DMS)
Although Hycean worlds are 予報するd to be covered in water, 研究員s say it is also possible that K2-18 b's hypothesised ocean is too hot to be habitable or be liquid.?
In fact, a 熟考する／考慮する published earlier this year 示唆するd the ocean may be 溶岩.?
K2-18b is known as a '最高の Earth' because it is bigger than our 惑星 but smaller than?Neptune.?
K2-18b's large size ? with a 半径 2.6 times the 半径 of Earth ? means that the 惑星's 内部の likely 含む／封じ込めるs a large man tle of high-圧力 ice, like Neptune, but with a thinner hydrogen-rich atmosphere and an ocean surface.?
'Although this 肉親，親類d of 惑星 does not 存在する in our solar system, sub-Neptunes are the most ありふれた type of 惑星 known so far in the 星雲,' said 研究員 Subhajit Sarkar of Cardiff University.?
'We have 得るd the most 詳細（に述べる）d spectrum of a habitable-zone sub-Neptune to date, and this 許すd us to work out the 分子s that 存在する in its atmosphere.'
The James Webb Telescope: 航空宇宙局's $10 billion telescope is designed to （悪事，秘密などを）発見する light from the earliest 星／主役にするs and 星雲s
The James Webb telescope has been 述べるd as a 'time machine' that could help unravel the secrets of our universe.
The telescope will be used to look 支援する to the first 星雲s born in the 早期に universe more than 13.5 billion years ago, and 観察する the sources of 星／主役にするs, exoplanets, and even the moons and 惑星s of our solar system.
The 広大な telescope, which has already cost more than $7 billion (£5 billion), is considered a 後継者 to the 軌道ing Hubble Space Telescope
The James Webb Telescope and most of its 器具s have an operating 気温 of 概略で 40 Kelvin ? about minus 387 Fahrenheit (minus 233 Celsius).
It is the world's biggest and most powerful 軌道の space telescope, 有能な of peering 支援する 100-200 million years after the Big Bang.
The 軌道ing infrared 観測所 is designed to be about 100 times more powerful than its 前任者, the Hubble Space Telescope.
航空宇宙局 likes to think of James Webb as a 後継者 to Hubble rather than a 交替／補充, as the two will work in tandem for a while.?
The Hubble telescope was 開始する，打ち上げるd on April 24, 1990, 経由で the スペースシャトル 発見 from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
It circles the Earth at a 速度(を上げる） of about 17,000mph (27,300kph) in low Earth 軌道 at about 340 miles in 高度.?
