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Venus. Photo: sciencenews.org
Traditionally, Venus, the second planet in the Solar System, has held the record for extreme environmental conditions and has often been described as a “hellish” place with daytime temperatures high enough to melt lead, coupled with an atmosphere denser than Earth’s by 100 times, consisting of 85% carbon dioxide. However, a group of experts detected traces of phosphine, a flammable gas that on Earth is commonly produced during the decay of organic matter. This discovery was made using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, and it was later confirmed using the advanced Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile.
In their study published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the team of scientists emphasized that the presence of phosphine does not conclusively prove the existence of life on Venus. Nevertheless, the study indicated that given the rapid degradation of phosphine due to Venus’s highly acidic and scorching surface, the gas must be replenished by some mechanism. To understand the production of phosphine, the researchers constructed various computational models. Ultimately, the research team concluded that this study presents evidence of “unexplained and anomalous chemical properties” regarding Venus.
Jane Greaves, a scientist from Cardiff University’s School of Physics and Astronomy in the United Kingdom and the lead researcher, pointed out that the mere presence of phosphine is not direct evidence of life on Earth’s neighboring planet. Nonetheless, she acknowledged that this marks the first time phosphine has been found on a terrestrial planet other than Earth.
In response to the study, Alan Duffy, an astronomer from Swinburne University and a prominent scientist at the Royal Institution of Australia, deemed the finding as “one of the most exciting signs of potential life beyond Earth that I’ve ever seen.” Meanwhile, Jim Bridenstine, the head of the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), referred to this discovery as “the most significant development yet” in the quest for extraterrestrial life. He emphasized, “It’s time to prioritize Venus.”
Phosphine is a molecule typically produced by bacteria on Earth through industrial processes. Consequently, it falls within the list of “potential biosignatures” that scientists consider as indicators of potential life on planets, which are Earth-sized and have atmospheres observable through telescopes.
For a long time, the existence of extraterrestrial life has remained one of the most significant questions in science. Scientists have employed telescopes and various tools to search for “biological signatures” – indirect signs of life on planets beyond the Solar System and further.