In such a world, “as far as we can tell, only life can make phosphine,” said Dr. Sosa-Silva. She has long studied gas, on the theory that it emanates from rocky planets orbiting distant stars that could prove that life exists elsewhere in the galaxy.
Here on Earth, phosphine is found in our intestines, in the feces of badgers and penguins, and in some deep-sea worms, as well as in other biological environments associated with anaerobic organisms. It is very toxic. Military soldiers have used it for chemical combat, and it is used as smoke in farms. The protagonist Verter White on the TV show “Breaking Bed” makes it to kill two rivals.
But scientists have yet to explain how the earth’s microbes make it.
Matthew Pasek, a geologist at the University of South Florida in Tampa, said there is not much understanding about where it comes from, how it is formed. “We’ve seen it associated with where the microbes are, but we haven’t seen any microbes do that, which is a gut tle difference, but an important one.”
When Dr. Susa-Silva was amazed, Dr. Greaves said he found phosphine.
“That moment plays a lot in my mind, because I took a few minutes to consider what was happening.”
If Venus really had phosphine, she believed there could be no clear explanation other than anaerobic life.
“The situation we find in it also makes perfect sense from what we know thermodynamically,” he said.
The team needed a more powerful telescope, and later scientists used the Attack Large Millimeter Array in March 2019 in Chile.
