Phosphine detected in the atmosphere of Venus

[Urwumpe]

Looks like there might be a bigger newsstory later today.

Phosphine Detected In The Atmosphere of Venus - An Indicator of Possible Life? - Astrobiology

Keith’s note: There is a big press release coming out tomorrow (Monday, 14 September) morning at the Royal Astronomical Society. They want you to know its big news. The press release has been issued in advance to some journalists under embargo – but not others (like us). We have not seen the...

astrobiology.com

A livestream of the presentation will be available here, in one hour from now:

 

[Urwumpe]

Ok, so anaerob life is a possible source for such amounts of Phosphine. There is also another reaction possible, with sulfuric acid and Aluminum Phosphide, but then, an artificial anorganic substance has to exist on Venus.

The reactions that produce Phosphine on Jupiter are not possible, because Venus does not get hot enough.

 

[Notebook]

BBC article

Is there life floating in the clouds of Venus?

Telescope observations spy a gas high in the atmosphere of Venus that on Earth is made by microbes.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Kyle]

This is huge news. Skepticism is warranted, but it's probably the closest we've ever come to finding life out there in the universe beyond Earth. Surprised there's not more interest in it.

 

[n72.75]

At the very least, it should encourage more missions. Very exciting stuff.

 

[statisticsnerd]

At the very least, it should encourage more missions. Very exciting stuff.

Definitely. However, unfortunately, a boring explanation is usually the correct explanation. Remember the star that was thought to be surrounded by a Dyson sphere and ended up just being dust? Before we get too excited, let's consider that the phosphine was most likely produced by non-biological means. Still, we should definitely send a there to find out.

 

[n72.75]

Definitely. However, unfortunately, a boring explanation is usually the correct explanation. Remember the star that was thought to be surrounded by a Dyson sphere and ended up just being dust? Before we get too excited, let's consider that the phosphine was most likely produced by non-biological means. Still, we should definitely send a there to find out.

Oh I agreed wholeheartedly.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

This really gets me excited about the prospects of more science probes going to Venus. What would it take to get a sample of gas from the upper atmosphere of Venus? A low pass aerobraking pass of a sample return mission would be very fiery, I imagine. Dropping a buoyant probe into the clouds under a ballute/balloon with a big enough science package to make an unambigous determination of the presence of life would probably be harder than sending making an unambiguous determination of the presence of life on Mars.

 

[Pioneer]

Sounds exciting. Let's hope it's not something more sinister...

 

[n72.75]

XKCD doesn't miss a beat, as usual

Evidence of Alien Life

xkcd.com

 

[cannon_gray]

Previously, phosphine was found on other planets of the solar system - in particular, in the gas envelope of Saturn and the turbulent atmosphere of Jupiter. However, its production without the participation of living organisms requires a large amount of energy.