The discovery of a gas on Venus potentially points to signs of life. Astronomers found traces of phosphine in the planet’s atmosphere, a molecule that may confirm an organic, extraterrestrial presence.
A journal by Nature Astronomy describes phosphine—noted for its potent “fishy” smell—as what’s known as a biosignature, or any substance that suggests a biological process influenced by life-forms. The journal highlights phosphine in particular to be the perfect biosignature candidate; when found on rocky planets such as Earth, the gas is primarily produced by microbes, tiny single-celled organisms that are life-forms at their simplest. Phosphine’s presence on Venus, also a rocky planet, strongly hints at the presence of microbes, or other organisms that could possibly produce the gas.
But before the general population busts out its tinfoil hats and alien welcoming mats, it should be noted that the discovery of phosphine on Venus, while puzzling, doesn’t automatically confirm the presence of life. Venus is known to have a notoriously hellish and inhospitable environment, dredging up even more questions as to how life could possibly survive there.
Nevertheless, astronomers remain in the dark as to how and why phosphine was present on the planet. The discovery of aliens on Venus wouldn’t be the strangest thing to come out of this year, anyway.
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September 18, 2020 at 08:30PM
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Gas on Venus hints at the possibility of life - PennLive
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