With temperatures reaching nearly 500 degrees Celsius and a scorched volcanic landscape exacerbated by a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere that traps heat, Venus, despite its apparent similarity to Earth in size, mass and density, doesn't seem very high on the list of potential planetary candidates that could host extraterrestrial life.
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That's why when a team of scientists claimed to have found evidence of habitability in the clouds of Venus in September 2020, it sparked a controversy among astrophysicists.
Using data collected from the James Clerk Maxwell in Hawaii and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile, researchers found traces of phosphine gas present in Venus' atmosphere, which they noted were "biological signatures" suggesting the planet could host life. To be sure, the findings were met with skepticism, with some questioning the methodology behind the findings and others questioning whether the signal received was, in fact, phosphine.
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Undeterred, the same group of scientists, led by Sara Seager, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reanalyzed the data, created a chemical model of the atmosphere of the planet Venus, and hypothesized that there is, in fact, life in Venus' atmosphere that produces ammonia—another biological signature gas that scientists are watching for.
The presence of ammonia was first detected in the atmosphere of Venus as early as the 1970s, misleading astronomers since no chemical reaction leading to its creation appears to be taking place.
But in their latest study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers hypothesized that if ammonia were present in Venus' clouds, it would trigger a cascade of chemical reactions that would eventually neutralize surrounding sulfuric acid droplets. This reaction, hypothetically, would raise the pH of the clouds from about -11 to 0. Now, a pH of 0 isn't exactly the perfect level for life to thrive, but there is evidence, even here on Earth, of life surviving in such extreme conditions.
Researchers have discovered strange anomalies in decades of data from Venus that had long since disappeared. In addition to ammonia, they also found unusual traces of water vapor and sulfur dioxide, which they argued could be created by dust from Venus's surface drifting into its atmosphere. But that explanation still wouldn't explain all of the anomalies.
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The researchers, however, were quick to note that there are many other factors that come into play when determining whether life could survive, especially in an environment as inhospitable as Venus. But the scientific process is all about collecting more and more data, creating and testing hypotheses, and refining a theory.
Source of information: timesnownews.com
