Possible life found on Venus
Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 10:17 pm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54133538
TL:DR We have detected a gas in the atmosphere of Venus called phosphine, which is a molecule made up of one phosphorous atom and three hydrogen atoms. On Earth, it is only created naturally only by microorganisms that live in oxygen poor environments such as swamps or feasting away in the guts of larger animals such as penguins.
The obvious retort (and the team admits this) is that there could be a natural source of phosphine out there that can be produced by something else. However given the extreme conditions found on Venus (it is hotter than a pizza oven) no one is quite sure what else could possibly produce something so similar to a by-product of a microorganism and yet so different it does not require a life form to generate. If there is life on Venus, it is probably airborne, up where the weather is less hostile.
There are many if's here, but just think for a moment if this was true. All we've been hoping for in the past few decades is to find some fossils or some bacteria on Mars. No one really dreamed they would find life on Venus because the place is basically Hell. In my opinion it also reopens the idea of panspermia - how is there life on Venus, Earth and possibly Mars? These planets are incredibly close after all. Close enough that a bit of rock with some early organisms attached to it could have travelled the distance.
Just think of how many biology textbooks and religions would be rewritten if we sent a probe to Venus, found life in its atmosphere with genetic markers that linked it back to Earth or vice versa. Just think if we actually originated on another planet? Sod Mars, lets get that mission to Venus.
I'm not going to lie, I would die a happy man if we proved the existence of life on other planets. It is something I have wanted to see my whole life - even if it is just some microorganisms on Venus that may have come from Earth.
TL:DR We have detected a gas in the atmosphere of Venus called phosphine, which is a molecule made up of one phosphorous atom and three hydrogen atoms. On Earth, it is only created naturally only by microorganisms that live in oxygen poor environments such as swamps or feasting away in the guts of larger animals such as penguins.
The obvious retort (and the team admits this) is that there could be a natural source of phosphine out there that can be produced by something else. However given the extreme conditions found on Venus (it is hotter than a pizza oven) no one is quite sure what else could possibly produce something so similar to a by-product of a microorganism and yet so different it does not require a life form to generate. If there is life on Venus, it is probably airborne, up where the weather is less hostile.
There are many if's here, but just think for a moment if this was true. All we've been hoping for in the past few decades is to find some fossils or some bacteria on Mars. No one really dreamed they would find life on Venus because the place is basically Hell. In my opinion it also reopens the idea of panspermia - how is there life on Venus, Earth and possibly Mars? These planets are incredibly close after all. Close enough that a bit of rock with some early organisms attached to it could have travelled the distance.
Just think of how many biology textbooks and religions would be rewritten if we sent a probe to Venus, found life in its atmosphere with genetic markers that linked it back to Earth or vice versa. Just think if we actually originated on another planet? Sod Mars, lets get that mission to Venus.
I'm not going to lie, I would die a happy man if we proved the existence of life on other planets. It is something I have wanted to see my whole life - even if it is just some microorganisms on Venus that may have come from Earth.