- Findings of what is thought to be phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus have fueled the debate over the possibility of life on the hard planet.
- Now a new research report offers an explanation that does not depend on the presence of phosphine, and can shoot down the whole theory that life exists on or around Venus.
- The study, conducted in Astrophysical Journal Letters, suggests that the scientists in Venus’ atmosphere merely see sulfur dioxide, which is known to be common on Venus and would not indicate the presence of life.
The year 2020 was filled with many terrible things, but one seemingly bright spot in the world of science came when scientists announced the discovery of what they thought was phosphine in the atmosphere of the planet Venus. Phosphine in the atmosphere may be a sign of biological processes taking place, and since the surface of Venus is little more than a toxic hell image, it was thought that there may be airborne organisms around the planet, making the first discovery of extraterrestrial life would be ever made.
Now, after several months of additional research, it seems increasingly likely that what the scientists thought they were seeing in the atmosphere of Venus was actually not phosphine at all. The work, which appears in two articles published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, could be the ultimate death knell for the theory of life on Venus.
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The researchers in this latest study examined the data used to initially argue that phosphine may be present in the atmosphere of Venus. Unfortunately, the team could not find a clear spectral signature of the gas in the data, which has already seriously cast doubt on the claim.
After further studying the behavior of gases in the atmosphere of Venus, the team concluded that what the scientists probably saw was only sulfur dioxide, which is a common gas around Venus and would not indicate the possible presence of life. This is obviously a big hunt, because it means that anyone who dreams of discovering the first extraterrestrial life will have to wait a while longer.
Many in the scientific community have been reluctant to believe that phosphine could possibly be present in the atmosphere of Venus. Because phosphine would rapidly degrade in the atmosphere, the presence of a significant amount of gas would mean that there was something that was actively generating it. One of the theories suggested that biological processes taking place high above the surface of Venus were responsible, but that the myth seems to have been completely broken now.
So there is probably no life on Venus, but that does not mean that extraterrestrial life is absent in our entire solar system. Astronomers believe that there is still a possibility that life exists in some form on the water-rich moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and perhaps even around Uranus.
Mike Wehner has been reporting on technology and video games for the past decade, discussing news and trends in VR, portable, smartphones and future technology. Mike was recently technical editor at The Daily Dot and has been featured in USA Today, Time.com and numerous other web and print stores. His love of reporting is second only to his game addiction.