Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #itsneveraliens
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A team led by @jgreaves6 have found what might be signs of life high in Venus' atmosphere. They have detected phospine, a gas which on Earth is produced only by life, in quantities they say are too large to be produced any other way. (1/17)
The discovery was made by using sub-mm (microwave) telescopes @eao_jcmt and @almaobs; phosphine is detected roughly 50km above the surface; parts of the atmosphere have temperature and pressure similar to sea level on Earth (2/17)
The phosphine exists at about 20 parts per billion, which doesn't sound much but which the team's modelling says is ten thousand times more than can be produced by volcanic activity or atmospheric chemistry. Their conclusion - this could be life. (3/17)
Sometimes, astronomers can't help themselves. A @umontreal_news press release says 'water detected on an exoplanet in the habitable zone...a a major discovery in the search of alien life'. Except it isn't. It really isn't.
@uMontreal_news If you read the paper (arxiv.org/abs/1909.04642) you find a fascinating description of a planet unlike any in our Solar System. It's more like a mini-Neptune than anything Earth like - though warm. Sort of like a cross between Venus and Neptune.
What's frustrating is that this is a fascinating, interesting result. Imagine what such a world would be like! And now it's going to leak slowly into the public as something to do with 'aliens' and 'life'. #itsneveraliens
