What did scientists find in the clouds of Venus last year?

In late 2020, scientists studying the atmosphere of Venus announced the surprising – and controversial – discovery of phosphine, a chemical that, on Earth, is produced primarily by living organisms. Then – in March 2021 – a study from Rakesh Mogul of Cal Poly Pomona supported the original finding of phosphine and went further. It suggested that other “biologically relevant chemicals” in Venus’ atmosphere appear to be in a state of disequilibrium: another hallmark of life.

Venus, a world with a reputation for being hot and hellish, just became one of the most intriguing—and closest—spots in the universe for investigating the question of whether life exists beyond Earth. A NASA rover is currently on its way to Mars to look for signs of life, but the robot is designed to find long-dead microbes, preserved in the rusty soil for billions of years. The phosphine discovery presents the tantalizing possibility that life might be on Venus right now. If this discovery is confirmed, which will likely require sending a spacecraft, we would know for the first time in human history that the solar system has two planets where life exists. In a cosmic sense, we wouldn’t be alone anymore.

Venus is a notoriously inhospitable planet, where surface temperatures hover around 860 degrees Fahrenheit (460 Celsius). Travel high into the atmosphere, where it’s cooler, and you’ll find more bearable, even comfortable, temperatures, closer to what we experience on Earth. This is where the telescopes detected the signature of phosphine. But Venus’s atmosphere is so acidic, with clouds made of droplets of sulfuric acid, that any phosphine would be quickly zapped. For the gas to stick around, something must replenish the supply.

Picture Credit : Google

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *