When it comes to finding life somewhere beyond Earth, there are a lot of claims out there but most of them are highly improbable.
Back in 2020, researchers found that there was a lot of phosphine in the clouds of Venus, and this gas is strongly associated with biological life, so the scientists said that it might be a sign.
Not surprisingly, most scientists and astronomers said that suggesting that there was life on Venus was very premature at the time.
The same team of researchers, led by Jane Greaves of Cardiff University in the UK, however, kept looking at the planet in hopes that more evidence would be discovered.
Recently, the team presented additional information to the Royal Astronomical Society in Hull, England. This time, they found that there was ammonia in the atmosphere of Venus.
Ammonia is another gas that is almost always produced by biological life. While having both of these gasses in one place does not absolutely prove that there is life, it does make it far more probable.
Greaves talked to CNN about their findings, explaining:
“The exciting thing behind this would be if it’s some kind of microbial life making the ammonia, because that would be a neat way for it to regulate its own environment. It would make its environment much less acidic and much more survivable, to the point it’s only as acidic as some of the most extreme places on Earth — so not completely crazy.”
There are still a lot of people saying that despite these findings, the odds are that there is no life. There are other processes that could create both of these gasses and just because they are uncommon does not mean they are not present in the extreme environments of Venus.
As always, additional information will be needed to help to explain the findings, whether it is life or not. NASA’s Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gasses, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI) mission is currently planned for the 2030’s.
On this mission, a probe will be sent into the atmosphere of Venus, which will undoubtedly shed new light on what is going on.
For now, we can excitedly wait for more information to explain what is happening on Venus.
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