Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

SPACE | Scientists detect gas on Venus linked to life on Earth

0

Scientists have detected a gas called “phosphine” in the toxic atmosphere of Venus, which on Earth could originate from presence of life.

venus

NEW YORK — Scientists have detected a gas called “phosphine” in the toxic atmosphere of Venus, which on Earth could originate from presence of life.

In an article published Monday in Nature Astronomy, a group of scientists said they used telescopes in the U.S. state of Hawaii and Chile’s Atacama Desert to observe Venus’ upper cloud deck, around 60 km from the surface, and traced the apparent presence of phosphine gas.

The head of NASA hailed the discovery as “the most significant development yet” in the hunt for extraterrestrial life.

“PH3 (phosphine) could originate from unknown photochemistry or geochemistry, or, by analogy with biological production of PH3 on Earth, from the presence of life,” said the article titled “Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus”.

Noting the detection of phosphine is not robust evidence for life, the scientists said that “there are substantial conceptual problems for the idea of life in Venus’s clouds — the environment is extremely dehydrating as well as hyperacidic.”

Mars, a planet known to have once had all necessary ingredients for carbon-based organisms, has been a longtime target of human beings to find extraterrestrial life.

“Life on Venus? The discovery of phosphine, a byproduct of anaerobic biology, is the most significant development yet in building the case for life off Earth,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted Monday. “It’s time to prioritize Venus.”

xinhua
by Xinhua News Agency
Xinhua News Agency at Xinhua News Agency | Website

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *