Scientists find dwarf planet near Mars that might be hosting alien life

A dwarf planet near Mars might help researchers detect alien life in space, as a recent study points towards the presence of organic matter on that planet in abundance.

The planet is called Ceres and is located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

It was in 2017 that the presence of organic matter was first detected on the planet. But now it has been revealed that the presence is more widespread than earlier thought.

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"The organics were initially detected in the vicinity of a large impact crater, which is what motivated us to look at how impacts affect these organics," Terik Daly, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and leader of the study, said in a statement.

"We are finding that organics may be more widespread than first reported and that they seem to be resilient to impacts with Ceres-like conditions," Daly added.

What does the presence of organic matter mean?

The widespread presence of organic matter means that Ceres may actually have the necessary building blocks to support life.

"Although researchers have performed impact and shock experiments on various types of organics in the past," Daly said, "what was missing was a study dedicated to the type of organics detected on Ceres using the same type of analytical method used by the Dawn spacecraft to detect them."

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The scientists will compare the two data sets gathered from the organics of the planet and map areas having the most potential of supporting extraterrestrial life.

"By capitalising on the strengths of two different datasets collected over Ceres, we've been able to map potential organic-rich areas on Ceres at higher resolution," Juan Rizos, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland who also worked on the study, said in the statement.

A large interior reservoir of organics might be found

Scientists even believe that a large interior reservoir of organics might be found on the planet, which would mean that oxygen is present on the planet and also life.

"While the origin of the organics remains poorly understood, we now have good evidence that they formed in Ceres and likely in the presence of water. There is a possibility that a large interior reservoir of organics may be found inside Ceres," said Juan Rizos.

(With inputs from agencies)

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