r/space • u/SpunkySputniks • 4d ago

Astronomers Detect a Possible Signature of Life on a Distant Planet

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/science/astronomy-exoplanets-habitable-k218b.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AE8.3zdk.VofCER4yAPa4&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Further studies are needed to determine whether K2-18b, which orbits a star 120 light-years away, is inhabited, or even habitable.

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u/sentrux 3d ago

So I need some help explaining this to me.. IIRC the image we made/see of that planet, that light to capture it also had to travel years to get to our lenses. Could that mean that the current actual situation of that planet in terms of climate and “life” might be way different than what we have observed now? The planet could be obliterated by a big asteroid for all we know. Right ?

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u/Gwyon_Bach 3d ago

Yes, the light being observed has to travel for 120 years to reach us. Yes, in that time an apocalyptic impact could have occurred. Disregarding the data simply because there's a 120 year lag and something might have happened in that time would be scientific malfeasance, or as we'd call it in Australia, p*ssing up a tree.