Researchers discover evidence of life on Venus: "It was a shock for us"

Two research teams independently discovered signs of life on Venus.

Alien microbes could dwell in the planet's clouds.

• Scientists have found signs of life on Venus.

• The gas phosphine was detected in the atmosphere.

• Alien microbes could have created the rare gas.

Cardiff

- Anyone who has dealt a little with our

knows that conditions prevail on almost all of them that make

there virtually impossible.

This is what people thought about our direct neighbor

for a long time

.

A surface temperature of 400 degrees and a pressure of 90 bar do not exactly invite you to linger.

In addition, the

the second

in the solar system consists of 95 percent carbon dioxide and the clouds are saturated with corrosive sulfuric acid.

But it was precisely under these hellish conditions that researchers discovered the

- an indication of

.

Life on Venus: Rare gas also exists on Earth

"When we saw the first signs of

in the

in the measurement results

, it was a shock for us" - says Jane Greaves, astrobiologist at

and head of the international research team on

.

The

detected by the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii

as early as 2017

.

It is located in the upper

the

, where it is a pleasant 30 degrees and the pressure is only one bar like on earth.

But the scientists were skeptical.

The aim was to check whether

could not have been produced by other events such as volcanic eruptions or lightning in the

.

But they found so much of it there that other causes could be ruled out.

In 2019 there was the second confirmation of the

through measurements by the ALMA telescope network of the European Southern Observatory in Chile.

Today's Big Space Story: scientists detect an unusual gas in the atmosphere of Venus that * might * indicate life, pending more study.

I'm especially excited by the potential parallels to recent research on the surprising prevalence & importance of microbial life in Earth's clouds pic.twitter.com/WSxm828uG2

- Ferris Jabr (@ferrisjabr) September 14, 2020

Phosphine

is a rare

.

It only arises when a phosphorus atom combines with three hydrogen atoms.

But there is, as on earth, unbound oxygen in the

, then it combines more quickly with the phosphorus.

The

can only be produced artificially.

On earth, for example, it has been found in the subsurface of moors, in the intestines of fish or in the excrement of penguins.

Scientists consider

an important part of the metabolism of life beings that do not need oxygen and therefore it is considered a

on other planets.

Life on Venus: Microbes in the atmosphere could secrete phosphine

A few decades ago astronomers discovered

dark spots

in the ultraviolet light spectrum of the

on

.

Scientists are now speculating that there could be large clusters of floating

.

The little creatures would have to be very tough.

The sulfuric acid content there is 90 percent.

On earth,

die

at five percent.

In order to finally determine whether there is

on

, a

to visit the planet.

Russia is planning such a mission for the year 2026 or 2031. A balloon could then be stowed on board the Venera-D probe, which can

in the upper

.

There are already plans to work with NASA on this project.

Recently, NASA was amazed when an asteroid flew close to Earth.

Not so long ago, an ESA probe took breathtaking images of the sun's surface.

List of rubric lists: © DB ESA / picture alliance