A team of astronomers think they have found signs of life in Venus’ atmosphere, according to the New York Times. In two papers published today, the astronomers explain that they have detected the chemical phosphine in Venus’s thick atmosphere. They believe that the phosphine may be produced by living microorganisms in an alien biosphere.
Jane Greaves, an astronomer at Cardiff University in Wales, first discovered phosphine on Venus in 2017, and in March 2019, scientists in Chile confirmed the discovery using a more powerful telescope. They found phosphine in the range of 5 to 20 parts per billion, which is thousands of times the amount of phosphine in Earth’s atmosphere. But their research was interrupted by the Wuhan virus pandemic and the limited time Venus spent above Earth’s line of sight.
The scientists have yet to collect any microbes from Venus, or even to take photographs. The researchers do know that light is constantly breaking down phosphine, so it needs to be replenished. Theoretically, microbes could do this, but some scientists do not believe that the phosphine is produced by anaerobic life. No one has an explanation for this. At the very least, these new findings may lead to more research around Venus, which is often considered an uninhabitable and lifeless place.
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