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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Hannah Devlin Science correspondent

Scientists hail ‘strongest evidence’ so far for life beyond our solar system

An illustration of what the planet K2-18 b could look like with a red dwarf star on a black background that is speckled with some small stars. The planet is large, in the foreground on the right and the star is smaller, in the background at the lower left. The planet is various shades of blue, with wisps of white scattered throughout. The left edge of the planet (the side facing the star) is lit, while the rest is in shadow. The star has a bright red glow.]
An illustration of what the planet K2-18 b, 124 light years away from Earth, may look like. Illustration: Nasa, CSA, ESA, J. Olmstead (STScI), N. Madhusudhan (Cambridge University)

A giant planet 124 light years from Earth has yielded the strongest evidence yet that extraterrestrial life may be thriving beyond our solar system, astronomers claim.

Observations by the James Webb space telescope of a planet called K2-18 b appear to reveal the chemical fingerprints of two compounds that, on Earth, are only known to be produced by life.

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