Footprints of Life Found in the Venus-Maeil Economy

Astronomers first discovered signs that life could exist on Venus. Venus has an average surface temperature of 464 degrees Celsius, and all the water has evaporated and about 96% of the atmosphere is made up of carbon dioxide, so life is known to be unlikely to survive. On the 14th (local time), foreign media such as the Financial Times (FT) reported that astronomers found traces of life in the atmosphere of Venus through a telescope.

According to a joint observation by British, American and Japanese astronomers, published recently in the journal Nature Astronomy, the research team discovered that a substance called phosphine, a hydrogen compound in phosphorus, was contained in the atmosphere about 60 kilometers from the surface. of Venus. The discovery of phosphine itself does not imply the existence of life, but it increases the probability, the researchers explained. Phosphine is a toxic substance with a terrible smell produced by anaerobic microorganisms that live in the absence of oxygen by breaking down organic matter or produced during industrial production.

In addition to the activities of life on Venus, the research team reviewed all the possibilities that phosphine could have been formed from volcanic activity, lightning, and photochemical reactions of minerals on Venus, but confirmed that, in the at best, it can only produce about 10,000 times the amount seen with a telescope. To analyze the chemical composition of the atmosphere of Mars, the research team used the James Clark Maxwell telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, USA, to spectroscopically analyze clouds over Venus at 55-80 km, and found phosphine for the first time in the process. Later, it was confirmed with the ‘Tacama Large Millimeter Aggregate (ALMA)’ installed in the desert of northern Chile.

“We thought we should rule out the organism scenario in the atmosphere of Venus,” said Jane Greaves, the Cardiff University professor who led the study. “I was surprised when I confirmed the presence of phosphine.”

“This study is an indicator that a new era has begun in the field of searching for extraterrestrial life,” said Laura McChemish, a spectrographer at the University of New South Wales, who was involved in the study. I cannot explain if this is observed. ”

Jim Brydenstein, director of NASA, said the discovery was “the most significant step in the search for extraterrestrial life.”

The air temperature where the phosphine was discovered this time was about 30 degrees, which is significantly lower than the surface because it is about 60 km from the surface. The academy has been paying attention to the moons of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn as planets with a high potential for the existence of life.

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