Possible signs of life found on distant planet, data shows

Scientists have found very vague signs that there might be life out there among the stars on a distant planet in the depths of space.

A wise man once said 'either we are alone in the universe or we are not, both are equally terrifying', and now we have a possible sign that we are not.

Don't start putting together the banners welcoming aliens to our planet just yet though, as the signs of possible life are vague and very far away.

It's a shame we always have to put a bit of a dampener on the idea that alien life could one day meet us, as they've not even bothered to give us a call first.

Experts from NASA who believe alien life is out there have also said that even if aliens did exist, and wanted to come and say hello, the power it would take for even a one-way trip would be astronomical.

Other scientists have said that any aliens with the power to make it over here have likely wiped themselves out before they had a chance to pack their bags and check the planet Earth travel brochure.

However, that doesn't mean that life isn't out there and experts believe they might have spotted the signs of potential life on another planet.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Now here comes the science-y bit.

According to IFL Science the James Webb Space Telescope has spotted a planet orbiting a star in the Leo constellation which has chemical markers that we on Earth associate with life.

We already knew the planet was there, having first been discovered in 2015 by the Kepler Space Telescope and dubbed K2-18b.

It's about 124 light years away from us, which sounds like a very long way away ,but in the grand scheme of the universe is actually pretty close to us.

Obviously we'd need to crack travelling faster than light to ever actually get there, but let's take this one step at a time.

In the past few years we've learned a lot about the planet and experts believe there are large oceans on this other planet after spotting signs of water vapour.

ESA/Hubble, CC BY 4.0

Now, the James Webb Space Telescope appears to have identified carbon dioxide, methane and potentially something called dimethyl sulphide in the atmosphere of K2-18b, which scientists think could indicate life on the world.

It's that last one which is so important as here on Earth, the only way we know it can be produced is by algae, and we don't know any way it can be made without a life form.

Of course, trying to figure out what's in the atmosphere of another planet 124 light years away can be very difficult - no matter how powerful the telescope.

We can learn what's going on in a distant planet by observing light from another source, like a star passing through the world's atmosphere, with chemical compounds absorbing light in specific wavelengths that we can identify.

So, maybe there is life out there after all, just don't expect it to be popping over in the flying saucer and asking if we could take them to our leaders.