{"id":15865,"date":"2025-04-21T08:49:46","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T08:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/current-affairs\/?p=15865"},"modified":"2025-04-21T08:51:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T08:51:02","slug":"k2-18b-exoplanet-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/current-affairs\/k2-18b-exoplanet-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"K2-18b: Exoplanet Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Exoplanet K2-18b:<\/strong> Located 124 light-years away in the Leo constellation, orbiting the star K2-18. Discovered in 2015 by the Kepler Space Telescope.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Size and Atmosphere:<\/strong> Approximately 5.2 times wider and 9 times more massive than Earth. Thought to have a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Past Discoveries:<\/strong> Hubble Space Telescope detected water vapour in 2019. James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) found carbon dioxide and methane.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>DMS\/DMDS Detection:<\/strong> In 2025, researchers reported detecting either dimethyl sulphide (DMS) or dimethyl disulphide (DMDS) in K2-18b&#8217;s atmosphere.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Significance of DMS:<\/strong> On Earth, DMS is primarily produced by phytoplankton and considered a potential biomarker (sign of life).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Hycean World Candidate:<\/strong> K2-18b is hypothesized to be a Hycean world which is a planet covered with a liquid ocean and a hydrogen rich atmosphere.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Contradictory Findings:<\/strong> Some studies challenge the initial findings, one 2024 paper said that JWST observations can be explained by K2-18b being &#8220;a gas-rich mini-Neptune&#8221;. One 2025 paper confirms the presence of methane but yields &#8220;no statistically significant or reliable evidence for carbon dioxide or DMS.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Cautions about Habitability:<\/strong> Detecting potential biomarkers is suggestive, not confirmatory, of habitable conditions. Non-biological processes could also create such molecules.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Exoplanet K2-18b: Located 124 light-years away in the Leo constellation, orbiting the star K2-18. Discovered in 2015 by the Kepler Space Telescope. Size and Atmosphere: Approximately 5.2 times wider and 9 times more massive than Earth. Thought to have a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. Past Discoveries: Hubble Space Telescope detected water vapour in 2019. James Webb Space &#8230; <a title=\"K2-18b: Exoplanet Profile\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/current-affairs\/k2-18b-exoplanet-profile\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about K2-18b: Exoplanet Profile\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15884,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[595],"tags":[1281],"class_list":["post-15865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-20-04-25"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.2 (Yoast SEO v23.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>K2-18b: Exoplanet Profile - Current Affairs Exam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/current-affairs\/k2-18b-exoplanet-profile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"K2-18b: Exoplanet Profile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Exoplanet K2-18b: Located 124 light-years away in the Leo constellation, orbiting the star K2-18. 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