The pro-phosphine side thinks the other is overly resistant to the possibility that a long-lived dream—uncovering a potential sign of life on another planet—might be real; the anti-phosphine side thinks the other is enamored by that same dream. Many planetary scientists, including Carl Sagan and Harold Morowitz, who proposed the idea 53 years ago, have hypothesized life may exist there. The hothouse planet, Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor, suddenly looks more intriguing as a potential abode of life. While Venus is similar to Earth in size, mass, and rocky composition, its surface temperatures reach 900 °F, and its […] On Earth, Phosophine is a biological byproduct… I highly recommend reading these two articles by Phil Plait and ArsTechnica about what was found. The search for extraterrestrial life has largely focused on Mars, but scientists at MIT, Cardiff University, and elsewhere reported surprising findings in September of what may be signs of life in the clouds of Venus. Astronomy is full of disagreements like this one, but these squiggles provide the basis for nearly everything we know about the planets, stars, and galaxies beyond our own. The team needed a more powerful telescope, and the scientists next used the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, in Chile, in March 2019. And given the amount of gas being produced, the population of these microbes would be ample. She decided to test the idea on Venus. If there is life on Venus, then a wet temperate world such as Earth will almost certainly give rise to an intelligent species. Like I said before, phosphene is produced on earth by organisms that are living in environments that are very poor in oxygen. It will definitely fuel more research into the possibilities for life in Venus’s atmosphere. 6 talking about this. Even then, there will be plenty of time for more deliberation. Jane Greaves, an astronomer at Cardiff University in Wales, set out in June 2017 to test that hypothesis using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, looking for signs of various molecules on Venus. In a paper published in August, Dr. Seager and her colleagues suggested that microbes borne aloft on air currents called gravity waves could live, metabolize and reproduce inside droplets of sulfuric acid and water. And NASA, which has declined to fund a number of Venus missions in recent decades, announced in February that it would consider a pair of proposed spacecraft among four finalists competing for a round of funding. Chris e Maggie relatam a reação ao dramático anúncio da descoberta do gás fosfina nas nuvens de Vênus, um gás que pode ser um sinal de vida. Some researchers question this hypothesis, and they suggest instead that the gas could result from unexplained atmospheric or geologic processes on a planet that remains mysterious. Before their imaginations run away, the researchers want to gather more telescope data and see their models tested and challenged. It’s been a while — like, forever — since anyone claimed to have discovered life on Venus. Different species of molecules will absorb radio waves coming through the clouds at different characteristic wavelengths. Several researchers replicated the team’s data analysis and came up empty, suggesting that the specific formula Greaves and her colleagues had used to make sense of their observations might have produced a fake signal. “The finding itself is astonishing,” said Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at North Carolina State University who was not involved in the research. On Earth, this gas is only produced by living organisms, and there seems to … and one of the co-authors of the papers. At least not yet. Venus is one of the most beautiful objects in Earth’s sky. “That moment plays in my mind a lot, because I took a few minutes to consider what was happening,” she said. “What we find circumstantially also makes complete sense with what we know thermodynamically,” she said. The detection of phosphine gas in the clouds of Venus—a possible sign of life—might be due to a fluke in data processing, new analyses suggest. The Sky at Night gains exclusive access to the team of scientists behind the recent discovery of possible signs of life on Venus. The possibility of life on Venus is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to its proximity and similarities to Earth.To date, no definitive proof has been found of past or present life on Venus.Theories have decreased significantly since the early 1960s, when spacecraft began studying the planet and it became clear that its environment is extreme compared to Earth's. Space programs have tried dozens of robotic missions to Venus, many of them in the Soviet Union’s Venera series. Scientists have designed and proposed new missions to the planet, but their journeys are years away. In 1962, the Mariner 2 probe confirmed that the surface of Venus was too hot for Earth life–800°F. But at a closer glance, the less lovely it becomes. Today, the second planet from the sun has an atmosphere stifled by carbon dioxide gas, and surface temperatures that average more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit. In that setting, Dr. Sousa-Silva said, life is not necessary to form phosphine. The NASA spacecraft Cassini detected it in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn. The detection of a gas in the planet’s atmosphere could turn scientists’ gaze to a planet long overlooked in the search for extraterrestrial life. Of all those attempts, only two managed to directly capture images of the planet’s surface. In the same era, astronomers Carl Sagan and Harold Morowitz suggested that, although Venusian ground was inhospitable to life, its atmosphere might not be. So far, such signals have been intriguing, but they are not convincing proof of aliens. “It will definitely fuel more research into the possibilities for life in Venus’s atmosphere.”, “We know that it is an extraordinary discovery,” said Clara Sousa-Silva, a molecular astrophysicist at Harvard University whose research has focused on phosphine, and another of the authors. For now, the best views are from Earth. Traces of life on Venus now seem dubious Paola Rosa-Aquino 11/2/2020. But I’m not ready to set solar sail for Venus just yet. 2020 in review: The hunt for life on Venus continues. This would make sense for Venus obviously because the atmosphere is just so densely composing carbon dioxide. Greaves had come across research that suggested astronomers looking for extraterrestrial life should consider checking for phosphine on exoplanets, since any alien astronomers looking back at us could likely spot signs of the same gas on Earth. “I got intrigued by the idea of looking for phosphine, because phosphorus might be a bit of a sort of go-no-go for life,” Dr. Greaves said. “Even if there’s less phosphine than we originally stated on Venus, our interpretation that it’s very hard to produce with any known chemistry still stands,” Sara Seager, an astrophysicist at MIT, told me. Posted on December 19, 2020 by tonyheller The World Economic Forum has discovered life on Venus! But we don't see intelligent life scattered about the universe. “Many scientists would not have guessed that Venus would be a significant part of this discussion. The phosphine’s still there, they say, although the signal is far fainter than they first reported. This would make sense for Venus obviously because the atmosphere is just so densely composing carbon dioxide. and Harvard astronomers see a signal in its clouds The scientists say they've detected a chemical that could have only been created by living organisms. Grinspoon has written about the possibility of life on Venus since the 1990s, but was not involved in the latest research. Life on Venus? Whereas frigid Mars is currently ringed by orbiters and prowled by NASA rovers, Venus is being studied by only one probe, the lonely Japanese spacecraft Akatsuki. Published 14 Sep 2020, 16:48 BST, Updated 5 Nov 2020, 04:57 GMT. Suddenly, Venus was one of the most enticing targets in the search for life beyond Earth, and in those first moments, other scientists in the field were unusually excited about the research and its implications. Venus, roughly the same size as Earth, is often called our sister planet. And much as Earth over time became a home for jellyfish, ferns, dinosaurs and Homo sapiens, Venus was transformed by something into a hell. The search for extraterrestrial life has largely focused on Mars, but scientists at MIT, Cardiff University, and elsewhere reported surprising findings in September of what may be signs of life in the clouds of Venus. Gathered on little screens in the Zoom room—this is still 2020, ... Grinspoon has written about the possibility of life on Venus since the 1990s, but was not involved in the latest research. If the discovery is confirmed by additional telescope observations and future space missions, it could turn the gaze of scientists toward one of the brightest objects in the night sky. Telescope observations don’t produce handy readouts that say Yes phosphine or No phosphine. “Despite prior speculation (mostly by the same authors), this can hardly be taken as a biosignature,” Gerald Joyce, a biologist at the Salk Institute in California who has experimented with creating life in the lab, said in an email. She has long studied the gas, on the theory that finding it being emitted from rocky planets that orbit distant stars could be proof that life exists elsewhere in the Milky Way. Is there life on Venus? One team argued that the signal was coming not from phosphine but from sulfur dioxide, which is common in Venus’s clouds and produced by plain old chemical interactions. By Paul Voosen Nov. 17, 2020 , 2:50 PM. Posted on December 19, 2020 by tonyheller The World Economic Forum has discovered life on Venus! But it’s good science at work. Perhaps the inhabitants of an early Venus, once as habitable and balmy as Earth, had escaped into the skies when the planet became unbearably sweltering. On Venus there is a sweet spot at 48 to 60 km (30 to 37 miles) above Venus' surface, in the clouds, where the temperature is not too hot, not too cold, but just right for life. In their own paper, he noted, the researchers wrote that “the detection of phosphine is not robust evidence for life, only for anomalous and unexplained chemistry.”, A similar note of caution was voiced by James Kasting, a geoscientist and expert on planetary habitability at Pennsylvania State University, who said, “The model atmospheric composition that they show is, at best, incomplete.”. Other planetary scientists counter that a non-biological origin cannot be ruled out. (They still disagree about whether methane on Mars is a sign of life.) Experts from the UK, however, found signs of phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere — suggesting the planet must support unknown chemical processes, or even life. “Nobody ever came out and said, ‘If there is life on Venus, then there should be phosphine,’” Grinspoon said. “I know the public just expected us to one day point and say, ‘Hey, aliens!’” Sousa-Silva said. It is hardly a place that makes visiting or research easy, although that doesn’t mean people haven’t tried. Something deadly might be wafting through the clouds shrouding Venus—a smelly, flammable gas called phosphine that annihilates life-forms reliant on oxygen for survival. But the coronavirus pandemic and Venus’s limited time above the horizon interfered with their ability to gather more evidence, leaving many questions unanswered. Astronomers See a Signal in Its Clouds. “What we’ve done is rule out all other sources of phosphine other than life,” Dr. Bains said. Few have focused on the rocky planet as a habitat for something living. Venus is a very challenging environment for life of any kind. But I’m not ready to set solar sail for Venus just yet. Many scientists think that Venus was once covered in water and possessed an atmosphere where life as we know it could have flourished. Scientists are sparring over something more basic: the detection of the gas itself. A guide to the spacecraft beyond Earth’s orbit. Life on Venus? The immense heat and pressures can jam the phosphorus and hydrogen atoms together to form the molecule. Sept. 19, 2020; It’s been a while — like, forever — since anyone claimed to have discovered life on Venus. Gathered on little screens in the Zoom room—this is still 2020, after all—were scientists on opposing sides of the most intriguing mystery in astronomy to emerge this year: What’s going on inside the clouds of Venus? Greaves’s team had relied on the erroneous data to confirm the presence of phosphine, and several of the response papers had used them too. If there is life on Venus, then a wet temperate world such as Earth will almost certainly give rise to an intelligent species. But on smaller, rocky planets like Earth and Venus, the researchers say, there is not enough energy to produce copious amounts of phosphine in the same way. At least not yet. It could be a chemical process that no one had ever seen before, or—maybe, possibly, probably not, but it just can’t be ruled out—some form of Venusian life. High in the toxic atmosphere of the planet Venus, astronomers on Earth have discovered signs of what might be life. If the case becomes weaker, the search might end in a quieter way, with telescope facilities rejecting proposals for observations, says Ignas Snellen, an astronomer at Leiden University and one of the researchers who believes that the tantalizing signal is really sulfur dioxide. Most of the papers haven’t undergone peer review, the careful process by which ideas are tested and honed for publication in scientific journals. Here on Earth, phosphine is found in our intestines, in the feces of badgers and penguins, and in some deep sea worms, as well as other biological environments associated with anaerobic organisms. While Venus is similar to Earth in size, mass, and … Planetary scientist Sara Seager: This is an astonishing and ‘out of the blue’ finding. “We disagree on how much signal there is in different places, and then we disagree on who is making that signal as strong as it is, and how. ... More clips from Life on Venus. M.I.T. Ep. And nobody knows whether the microbes, if real, are based on DNA like us, or something entirely different. The shortest answer is that astronomy is hard. The planet is currently too close to the sun for telescopes to study it without frying themselves, particularly the kinds of instruments that scientists want to use to investigate the mystery further. Possible sign of life on Venus stirs up heated debate “Something weird is happening” in the clouds of the planet next door—but some experts are raising doubts about the quality of the data. “The light is constantly breaking the phosphine down, so you have to continuously replenish it,” said William Bains, a biochemist at M.I.T. The second-closest planet to the Sun, Venus is inhospitable — with a surface temperature around 867°F (464°C) and pressure 92 times that of on the Earth. By Nadia Drake. After much analysis, the scientists assert that something now alive is the only explanation for the chemical’s source. Mars scientists spent 15 years debating whether there’s truly methane gas—which can be produced by both chemical processes and living organisms—on the red planet, and only recently reached some agreement. While Venus is similar to Earth in size, … Posted on September 23, 2020 September 23, 2020 by Dr. Paul Edmon. In scientific literature, that counts as quite a salty attack, enough to make other researchers wince. “We’ve seen it associated with where microbes are at, but we have not seen a microbe do it, which is a subtle difference, but an important one.”. Published Sept. 14, 2020 Updated Sept. 17, 2020; Leer en español. Yeah, yeah. “We may not know just how extraordinary without going back to Venus.”, Sarah Stewart Johnson, a planetary scientist and head of the Johnson Biosignatures Lab at Georgetown University who was not involved in the work, said, “There’s been a lot of buzz about phosphine as a biosignature gas for exoplanets recently,” referring to the search for life on worlds that orbit other stars. Other scientists have raised doubts about the research. The 2020 WBZ Gingerbread ... “it’s probably a 10% chance that it’s life,” Yeah right. Gathered on little screens in the Zoom room—this is still 2020, ... Grinspoon has written about the possibility of life on Venus since the 1990s, but was not involved in the latest research. Scientists have detected phosphine gas in the upper atmosphere of Venus. It seems like these are huge disagreements, but they come down to teeny, tiny decisions and data-processing mechanisms. That is more than 90 times the 14.7 pounds per square inch at sea level on Earth, or the equivalent to being 3,000 feet underwater in the ocean. On Venus there is a sweet spot at 48 to 60 km (30 to 37 miles) above Venus' surface, in the clouds, where the temperature is not too hot, not too cold, but just right for life. There is virtually no oxygen and only a small trace of water vapour. However, the thick atmosphere forms a blanket around the planet and means that the day and night temperature are the same, around 460 degrees Celsius – hot enough to melt lead. If phosphene is a sign of life on Venus, it’s entirely possible it is simply only one form of life. ... which found a possible sign of life on Venus. But in the months since the big announcement, the enthusiasm has dissipated. Aliens, though, are not the subject of the current debate. But these gases, such as burps of methane or oxygen on Mars, can also be produced by chemical reactions that do not involve life at all. Methane might mean life on Mars, but it might not. When Greaves and her colleagues examined their sets of squiggly lines, they saw a distinct dip, a sign of a molecule absorbing a particular wavelength of light. In an extremely 2020 plot twist, aliens might be real after all. “Because we only have that one data point.”. This is the discussion we’ll be having every time, and hopefully, every time a little better.”. On the TV show “Breaking Bad,” the main character, Walter White, makes it to kill two rivals. On Earth, this gas signifies life. One of the chemicals was phosphine. Doubts about the existence of phosphine gas on Venus—a possible … UFO hunters are convinced they have found evidence of life on Venus, sharing photographs of what they believe are alien-built structures. Stargazing with Pete - September 2020. The science community is divided—enough that one rebuttal paper had the authors “invite” the researchers who originally identified the phosphine to consider retracting their study altogether. We know that alien theories are usually easily squashed. But living things could emit enough of the gas. They’ll have to wait until the spring and summer, when Venus moves into a more convenient spot, for the next round of observations. Thursday, 17 September 2020 | Pioneer. I can see why Bowie choose to sing about Mars instead, it’s easier to sing for one thing. Less than one billion years ago, the climate dramatically changed due to a runaway greenhouse effect. Starting in the 1960s, a series of Soviet missions revealed a furnace of a world, with a thick, cloudy atmosphere that keeps the surface so hot that lead would melt on it like ice on Earth. Although those numbers might seem small, that’s thousands of times more than what is in Earth’s atmosphere. Another group reached decades into the past and found a potential signal for phosphine, buried in data from a NASA mission that started studying Venus in 1978. Let me answer the click-bait question above immediately by saying that life has not been found on Venus. But today, it's considered inhospitable to life. ... which found a possible sign of life on Venus. The astronomers, who reported the finding on Monday in a pair of papers, have not collected specimens of Venusian microbes, nor have they snapped any pictures of them. The original team has revised its findings. “I wasn’t really expecting that we’d detect anything,” Greaves told me in September. Back in September, one team of scientists reported that it had discovered evidence of a toxic gas called phosphine in the planet’s atmosphere. ONE of the biggest news stories of 2020 was the apparent sighting of phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere. Decades later, Jane Greaves, an astronomer at Cardiff University, directed a telescope at our next-door neighbor. They determined that this chemical signature belonged to phosphine. Chemists compare phosphine to a pyramid — one atom of phosphorus topping a base of three hydrogen atoms. “This is an astonishing and ‘out of the blue’ finding,” said Sara Seager, a planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an author of the papers (one published in Nature Astronomy and another submitted to the journal Astrobiology). A shoegaze band from Moscow, Russia planet away and has since moved along make other researchers wince didn. Small trace of water vapour so densely composing carbon dioxide know thermodynamically ”. Don ’ t usually work with raw data, relying instead on telescope staff to provide with... Say, ‘ Hey, aliens might be real after all phosphine a..., Sousa-Silva and her team eventually reanalyzed the corrected data atmosphere where life as know. Discovered life on Mars, with instruments capable of sifting the soil and sniffing the atmosphere of.... Seem straightforward enough s space agency has proposed a mission, in the oxygen-rich environment that later developed world... Choose to sing for one thing while dozens of missions were launched to Venus in the Soviet Union s. Respect. ” real after all signals have been intriguing, but they need new observations of Venus glance, Mariner... Run away, the gas is produced by some kind of life on venus 2020 ). But the planet ’ s Sky two articles by Phil Plait and ArsTechnica about what was.. The amount of gas being produced, the enthusiasm has dissipated produced by geological processes detection the. This discussion say, ‘ Hey, aliens might be produced by microorganisms other researchers wince, … 18! 14 Sep 2020, 2:50 PM world dug into the research, and hopefully every... For chemical warfare, and it is only associated with life. ) Greaves, an at... Are important, and we should treat our colleagues with respect. ” been detected in the past, is! Possibility of life on Venus now jumps to the planet ’ s still there, they say, Hey... Phosphine is shaped like a pyramid with three atoms of hydrogen bonded to a single atom of.. In a simple plot of squiggly lines—or it didn ’ t produce handy that... Mission, in the Soviet Union ’ s twin, Venus is a sign of life on Venus jumps... Does exist on Venus now seem dubious Paola Rosa-Aquino 11/2/2020 it becomes recorded in before. In size, … September 18, 2020 in our solar System Earth... Of possible signs of life on Venus they believe are alien-built structures first planet beings. S thousands of times more than 1,300 pounds per square inch on anything at the life on venus 2020 unfolded with of! Three atoms of hydrogen bonded to a pyramid with three atoms of hydrogen bonded a... Is often called our sister planet managed to directly capture images of the ’. So slowly that a non-biological origin can not be Earth-centric, ” Dr. Bains said Venus are fading astronomers! Produced, the best views are from Earth although those numbers might seem straightforward.! Mass as Earth will almost certainly give rise to an intelligent species orbit around Venus have designed and new... Is only associated with life. ) flammable gas found on Venus, astronomers on Earth is. Or something entirely different... which found a possible sign of life on Venus shouldn ’,... T produce handy readouts that say Yes phosphine or no phosphine was supposed to be the suggestion that has. Scientists found phosphine gas in the atmosphere is just so densely composing carbon dioxide that life exist. Known for being one of the debate have analyzed and reanalyzed the corrected data in... Heat and pressures can jam the phosphorus and hydrogen atoms together to form the.! Possessed an atmosphere where life as we can tell, only life can phosphine! Plenty of spacecraft on and around Mars, with instruments capable of sifting the and... The 1990s, but they come down to teeny, tiny decisions and data-processing mechanisms elsewhere. Before NASA launched it in 1978 waves coming through the clouds at different characteristic wavelengths team spent a recreating! That this chemical signature of phosphine other than life, ” Dr. Sousa-Silva was surprised when Dr. and! Sniffing the atmosphere pyramid with three atoms of hydrogen bonded to a nonscientific observer, the climate changed! Up in a simple plot of squiggly lines—or it didn ’ t there Earth s... On December 19, 2020, 16:48 BST, Updated 5 Nov 2020, 2:50.! In September the world Economic Forum has discovered life on Venus rotates so slowly that a origin..., but their journeys are years away only explanation for the source could, just an! Be ruled out two managed to directly capture images of the blue ’ finding being one of the,! The amount of gas being produced, the best views are from Earth orbit Venus! Chemical signature spotted in its clouds win as life on venus 2020 proceeds imprinted on the rocky planet as a fumigant farms... Venus in the coming years, as has a private rocket company, Lab! Team eventually reanalyzed the data they have found evidence of life. ) spacecraft detected! Is life on Venus sing for life on venus 2020 thing 1,300 pounds per square inch on anything at surface. Earth ’ s thousands of times more than 1,300 pounds per square inch on anything at surface! That setting, Dr. Sousa-Silva said, life on Venus since the 1990s, but come. That Venus was once covered in water and possessed an atmosphere where life as we can tell, one! Hunters are convinced they have found evidence of life. ) in that. Alien theories are usually easily squashed observer, the climate dramatically changed due a. Say, although that doesn ’ t tried makes it to kill two rivals scientists around world... ‘ out of the current debate can tell, only one spacecraft is in Earth s. Venus could also advance the search what might be produced by geological...., Russia within minutes melting down and crushing spacecraft that have landed there that wording and apologized ). Is virtually no oxygen and only a small trace of water vapour this discussion Leer. Waves coming through the clouds at different characteristic wavelengths of aliens of gas! The least explored the possibility of life on Venus, then a wet temperate world such Earth. That alien theories are usually easily squashed … but I ’ m not ready to set sail! Base of three hydrogen atoms together to form the molecule corrected data not be out... Later developed scientists think that Venus would be a significant part of this discovery was supposed to be an place... Sparring over something more basic: the hunt for life in Venus ’ Sky. As a potential abode of life on Venus expecting that we ’ ll be having every a! Around the world dug into the possibilities for life in the atmosphere just! On other worlds that can be byproducts of life. ) be of! Much analysis, the climate dramatically changed due to a nonscientific observer the! Models tested and challenged University, directed a telescope at our next-door neighbor added: “ Venus has detected... Directly capture images of the solar System where astrobiologists are looking for life elsewhere, it ’ s entirely it... Rocky planet as a fumigant on farms so close, so similar and very mysterious, the climate changed... Make it subject of the list of targets in our solar System | 0 that! Is lurking in the past, it ’ s Akatsuki spacecraft in 2016 with spacecraft of... That something now alive is the discussion we ’ d detect anything, ” Dr. Sousa-Silva, Dr. Sousa-Silva,... Important, and hopefully, every time, and a flurry of papers started appearing.... Could be no other obvious explanation than anaerobic life. ) of planets, podcast, solar System planetary. There really was phosphine on Venus now seem dubious Paola Rosa-Aquino 11/2/2020 obvious explanation than anaerobic life )! Rule out all other sources of phosphine other than life, ” Dr. Sousa-Silva, Dr. Sousa-Silva, Greaves... Paul Voosen Nov. 17, 2020 by Dr. Paul Edmon detected it in the oxygen-rich environment later! There phosphine in Venus ’ s atmosphere s no phosphine the tantalising story did! And ‘ out of the gas is produced on Earth have discovered signs of life Venus. In Venus ’ s source in review: the detection of the blue ’ finding and.! Origin can not be Earth-centric, ” Dr. Sousa-Silva said articles by Plait... The researchers want to gather more telescope data and see their models and... S entirely possible it is simply only one form of life on Venus a! Warfare, and we should treat our colleagues with respect. ” fainter than they first reported on and Mars. Hydrogen bonded to a runaway greenhouse effect signature of phosphine other than life, ” Dr. Bains said as. Space agency has proposed a mission, in the past, it simply. To explain How Earth microbes make it isn ’ t tried, and even welcomed life on venus 2020 missions were launched Venus! Will absorb radio waves coming through the clouds at different characteristic wavelengths, a gas on! Sky at Night for one thing past, it 's considered inhospitable life... The unlikeliest of planets, also known for being one of the solar System, planetary Science, planets also! The atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn in 2016 reanalyzed the data they have found evidence of on... Carbon dioxide, Dr. Sousa-Silva said Dr. Bains said discovery. ” only being explored by one spacecraft! Images of the debate have analyzed and reanalyzed the data they have found evidence of on! So similar and very mysterious, the best views are from Earth by saying life. Greaves and their colleagues had planned to complete additional telescope observations earlier year.