Extraterrestrial life on Venus? Discovery of gases in clouds excites scientists
The quest to find life forms outside of our planet has taken an unexpected turn after scientists discovered the presence of phosphine and ammonia on the clouds of Venus. The discoveries were made by two separate teams of scientists and the findings were presented at the national astronomy meeting at the University of Hull earlier this week.
Phosphine and ammonia on Venus clouds
Phosphine is a flammable, smelly gas that can be produced by some species of anaerobic bacteria living in oxygen-starved environments. Other sources, such as volcanic activity, tend to be so inefficient that on rocky planets the gas is considered a marker for life.
On Earth, ammonia is made through either industrial processes or by nitrogen-converting bacteria.
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Venus surface
The surface of Venus reaches about 450C, hot enough to melt lead and zinc, the atmospheric pressure is 90 times that of the Earth¡¯s surface and there are clouds of sulphuric acid. But about 50km (31 miles above the surface the temperature and pressure are closer to conditions on Earth ¨C and potentially just about survivable for very hardy microbes.
Exciting, but not definitive?
While the discovery of the two gases is a positive sign, scientists say that they are not definite proof of the existence of life on the planet.
¡°When it comes to Venus, both of those are open questions. If they really confirm phosphine and ammonia robustly it raises the chances of biological origin. The natural next thing will be new people will look at it and give support or counter-arguments. The story will be resolved by more data,¡± Prof Nikku Madhusudhan, an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge, said.
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More studies needed
¡°These are very exciting findings but it must be stressed that the results are only preliminary and more work is needed to learn more about the presence of these two potential biomarkers in Venus¡¯s clouds. Nevertheless, it is fascinating to think that these detections could point to either possible signs of life or some unknown chemical processes. It will be interesting to see what further investigations unearth over the coming months and years,¡± Dr. Robert Massey, the deputy executive director at the Royal Astronomical Society, said.
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