Traces of life may have been found on Venus, the second closest planet to the Sun. According to information leaked to the press, phosphine was discovered in the planet's atmosphere. As far as we know, phosphine is a substance found in environments where biological life exists.
Finding signs of life on other planets beyond the Earth would be a way of answering the biggest questions that we’ve had as a species so far. Where do we come from? Are we alone? Of course, these questions are not the exclusive purview of scientists.
People have been asking them for as long as is any record of them being able to ask these questions. What is special about this moment and our role in it as a scientist, is that for the first time we're actually able, because we have the tools to answer these questions.
So, a group of scientists, led by Jane Greaves from the University of Cardiff, were looking for signs, for chemical signs on Venus, that shouldn't belong there. And one of such molecules is phosphine.
And they, unexpectedly, they actually were able to find a signal that belongs to this molecule. So then, we raced to figure out what could be the reason for phosphine on Venus. And this is where our MIT team comes. When we actually looked at all kinds of processes, chemical and physical, that could potentially produce phosphine in Venusian environments. This is an atmosphere. The surface of the planet is completely uninhabited. The atmosphere is the only place in which life actually could in principle exist. There is a belt of clouds.
And we concluded that there is no known chemical and physical process that could conceivably produce phosphine. So, this adds to the mystery of Venus. And then, this opens a rather bold possibility that there might be something living in the clouds of Venus.
Phosphines my favorite molecule. And it looks more or less like this, a phosphorous atom on top, and three hydrogens in the base of this pyramid. And phosphine is an extremely difficult molecule to make. It is only spontaneously made in extreme environments. Such as what you find in the hellish depths of Jupiter and Saturn. It is otherwise only made either naturally by life on Earth or artificially by humans, as a fumigant for example.
So, the question is why it is actually a staggering discovery. Why it is so important? Well, there are a couple of angles that you can actually answer that question. One, the first, is that phosphine is absolutely unexpected. It cannot be produced on the rocky planets. At least we don't know of any known processes, chemical or physical, that can produce phosphine. Which means, either our understanding of the physics and chemistry of the rocky planets is severely incomplete, or there is some chemistry, that is so unbelievably weird, that it could even be life.
If we have indeed found life outside the Earth, it puts our own existence into perspective. But it also tells us that life would be much more common than we first imagined. And there is a huge array of possibilities out there in the galaxy of life with different biochemistries and desire.
The UK-based Royal Astronomical Society recently announced that a press conference will be held, marking the date of September 14. The preliminary information sent to the press members before this meeting on the condition of a broadcast ban contained such exciting details that some details were leaked despite the broadcast ban.
According to these details, phosphine was discovered in Venus and the society will announce the discovery to the public in its today’s announcement. According to the information compiled by the Evolution Tree, phosphine can only be seen in environments where biological life exists.
These substances directly related to life are called "biosignature". Among the experts who made the research that the substance in question was found in Venus, scientists are working at important universities such as MIT, Cardiff and Manchester.
Scientists are said to have used ALMA in Atamaca, Chile, and James Clark Maxwell in Hawaii, to make the discovery in question. In other words, a vehicle was not sent to Venus’s the atmosphere, but the discovery may have occurred as a result of observations made from the earth.
The reason these details have not been finalized yet is that official statements have not been made. The Royal Astronomical Society will hold a meeting today (September 14) at 18:00, where only press members can attend. It is said that "a very important and great discovery" will be announced at the meeting to be held over Zoom. Tonight, we can get certain information that there are traces of life on Venus, we will be conveying the details.
What kind of planet is Venus? The second closest planet to the Sun, the Second planet with an atmosphere in the Solar System, Like the twin brother of the world with its size and weight, One year is equal to 224.7 Earth days, Its rotation around itself is slower than its rotation around the Sun, that is, it takes 1 day longer than 1 year.
Hotter than Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, the only planet rotating clockwise around the sun, Atmospheric pressure is equal to the pressure of 1 km deep in the world's seas, it is the second brightest object in the sky after the moon. It is thought to have oceans, continents, and life 4.2 billion years ago.
Venus is the earth’s nearest global person. Same in construction but somewhat smaller than land, it is the second planet from the light. The world is on the 3rd. Venus is enveloped in the deep, poisonous air that traps in temperature. Surface temperatures get the scorching 880 degrees Fahrenheit (471 degrees Celsius), warm enough to thaw leading.
In many ways, Venus is similar to Earth. "Before its quite dramatic, runaway greenhouse effect, the surface was pretty habitable," says Clara Sousa-Silva at MIT, who explains that there has long been a theory out there that Venus might have once been inhabited and that life could have retained a stronghold in the clouds. Even Carl Sagan entertained this idea back in the 1960s.
The most mysterious aspect of Venus' history is the origin of its atmosphere. It would seem that the atmospheres of the Earth and Venus should be comparable because of their other similarities. However, atmospheres evolved in very different ways. This has led to the mild nitrogen and oxygen-rich atmosphere of the Earth and the dense carbonaceous atmosphere of Venus.
Intriguingly, no other planet in the universe has an atmosphere like Earth's. Mars and Venus have atmospheres, but they cannot support life (or, at least, not Earth-like life), because they don't have enough oxygen. Indeed, Venus' atmosphere is mainly carbon dioxide with clouds of sulfuric acid, the 'air' is so thick and hot that no human could breathe there.
According to NASA, the thick carbon dioxide atmosphere of Venus traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, making it the hottest planet in our solar system. Surface temperatures there are hot enough to melt lead. If life found on Venus it would be soo Cool.
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