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Our neighboring planet Venus: A hot hell, but in which there may be microbiological life. Image: keystone
Molecule found in the atmosphere of Venus indicates microbiological life
Earth may not be the only place in space where there is life. There could be microbes on Venus that survive in the cloud layers of our inner neighboring planet. Astrobiologists have detected a gas in the atmosphere of Venus, the presence of which indicates biological processes.
The international research team made up of scientists from Cardiff University, the University of Manchester, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) presented their findings at a press conference that took place at 5pm (CET) via Zoom. The researchers confirmed what had been previously rumored: They have the signature of monophosphine (phosphine, PH3) discovered. This molecule is considered a biomarker because, at least on Earth, it can only be produced artificially in laboratories or by anaerobic microbes.
Scientists discovered the molecule with the help of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaii and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). The latter is operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), among others. The information had already been made public on Sunday afternoon, probably due to a violation of the embargo. The study appears in the current issue of “Nature Astronomy.”
However, the presence of monophosphane in the atmosphere of our neighboring planet is not a direct and hermetic proof of the existence of life. Rather, it is very clear evidence of chemical reactions on Venus that, according to the current state of knowledge, can only be caused by anaerobic microbes. According to the leaked study, abiotic mechanisms – those in which no life is involved – cannot be responsible for the large amounts of monophosphane that have now been discovered. The connection has been shown in those layers of Venus’s atmosphere that some astrobiologists consider potentially life-friendly.
The astronomers involved in the study are encouraging their colleagues to find explanations for the presence of monophosphane that dispense with the presence of life. The molecule, which consists of one phosphorus and three hydrogen atoms, has so far only been detected outside Earth in the atmospheres of gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. Under the conditions prevailing there, enormous amounts of energy were available that were required to form this compound.
On Earth, anaerobic microbes in low-oxygen areas form monophosphine by absorbing phosphate and hydrogen minerals and releasing the compound into the environment as a waste product. Otherwise, lightning or volcanoes produce small amounts of gas. According to the researchers, there are 10,000 times more monophosphine in Venus’ cloud cover than those sources could form.
Janusz Petkowski, one of the study’s authors, comes to the following conclusion:
“Our discovery means that there is life or physical or chemical processes that we would not have expected in this way on rocky planets. (…) In fact, we have verified all the known ways in which monophosphane could form on rocky planets. If we are not dealing with life here, then there is a huge gap in our understanding of rocky planets in general. “
(Sir)
