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The NASA chief called the discovery “the most significant event to date” in the search for extraterrestrial life.
Conditions on this neighboring planet are often called hellish – the days on Venus are so high that lead melts and the atmosphere is made up almost entirely of carbon dioxide.
However, a team of experts found traces of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. These flammable gases are often formed on Earth by the decomposition of organic matter.
Scientists from Hawaii and the Atacama Desert of Chile observed telescopes in the outer layer of the clouds of Venus about 60 km above the surface.
In the journal Nature Astronomy, the team emphasized that the presence of phosphine did not yet prove the existence of life on Venus.
But since clouds on Venus are very acidic and rapidly destroy phosphine, research shows that someone is still creating this substance.
To explain this, the researchers developed several models and concluded that their study provides evidence for “anomalous and inexplicable chemical” phenomena on Venus.
Lead author Jane Greaves, from the Cardiff University School of Physics and Astronomy, told the AFP news agency that the presence of phosphine alone does not prove life on a planet near us.
“I don’t think we can say that even if a planet is high in phosphorus, it may not contain other vital things, no other elements, or the conditions may be too hot, too dry,” he said.
Mr. Greaves added that this was the first time phosphine had been found on any planet in the Earth group other than Earth.
The phosphine discovery on Venus was praised by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who wrote on Twitter: “It’s time to prioritize Venus.”
“Life on Venus? “The discovery of phosphine, a by-product of anaerobic biology, is the most significant event to date in the compilation of arguments for life outside of Earth,” he wrote.
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