Were those "alien farts" that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) detected in an Earth-like planet's atmosphere last year, or were they just clouds of methane? A new study makes the case for the latter, potentially dampening hopes that life has already been discovered beyond our solar system.
The contentious exoplanet, called K2-18b, is a warm, watery world with a hydrogen-based atmosphere. Located about 120 light-years from Earth, it sits in the habitable zone around its home star, where liquid water (and, therefore, potentially life) is possible.
