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An international team of astronomers from the University of Cardiff, UK, sent waves to the global scientific community on Monday after they detected the presence of a chemical called phosphine in the harshly inhospitable atmosphere of Venus. The finding, if confirmed by other telescopic observations, could well indicate the presence of life on a planet that has often been overlooked for signs of extraterrestrial life in the recent past.
On Earth, phosphine is produced by bacteria in oxygen-deficient environments. Therefore, its detection on Venus can potentially mean that something ‘alive’ is the only possible explanation for being the source of the phosphine.
Talking with middayArvind Paranjpye, director of the Nehru Planetarium, said: “The idea that life exists only on Earth, in this universe, is not plausible for many astronomers, given the large number of stars and planets that exist. But the main question is How are you going to look for this life that possibly exists somewhere other than Earth? There are two ways: the first is to see things, like trees, animals, etc., that we have not seen to date. is looking at the presence of microbial life. “
“What these scientists found was that phosphine, which is a chemical produced by living things on earth, very similar to methane, is present in the plant’s atmosphere. Since phosphine is produced by life forms, so it’s a strong indication that it was probably produced by a living being, in all probability some kind of tiny creature microbe, “he added.
However, Paranjpye said that the amount of phosphine traces located by the team of English scientists was not “substantial enough.”
“The flip side of the story is that possibly we as humans have not understood chemistry correctly. It may be possible to create phosphine through other different chemical reactions. But personally, I regard this finding as a positive step towards the discovery of extraterrestrial life. in the universe, “he said.
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