‘Biological activity on exoplanet may change our perspective’

Artist’s impression of the exoplanet K2-18b. Pic/Cambridge University

Evidence of biological activity outside the solar system can potentially change the way the night sky is fundamentally perceived, from seeing it as a physical, inanimate sky to thinking of it as a "living sky", astrophysicist Nikku Madhusudhan has said.

A professor of astrophysics and exoplanetary science at the University of Cambridge, Madhusudhan is the lead researcher on a study that has found fingerprints of dimethyl sulphide and dimethyl disulphide molecules on an exoplanet - K2-18 b - about 120 light years from Earth. The molecules, known to be produced on Earth by marine organisms, are considered predictors of life or habitability on exoplanets. The results of the study are the strongest signs yet of life outside the solar system.

Nikku Madhusudhan, astrophysicist

"It is entirely possible that if we spend a few more observations, then, in a few years, we may be able to increase the significance substantially and very confidently detect these molecules," Madhusudhan said.

Born in India in 1980, Madhusudhan graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi, with a degree in engineering. He went on to pursue a masters in engineering in 2004 and a PhD in physics in 2009 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US. He held postdoctoral positions at multiple institutes, including MIT, before joining the University of Cambridge as faculty in 2013. Over the past decade, he has made influential contributions to exoplanetary science, especially on the atmospheres of "Hycean worlds" - a type of exoplanet entirely covered by an ocean beneath hydrogen-rich air.

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