💥 Life on Venus? 😮
Quick thread with links to more info. First, the press release from @RoyalAstroSoc: ras.ac.uk/news-and-press…
Short version: a molecule was detected in the atmosphere of Venus that MIGHT have been produced by life. (It's unclear how else to produce it there.)
New York Times coverage by @shannonmstirone, @kchangnyt, & @overbye: nytimes.com/2020/09/14/sci…
"High in the toxic atmosphere of the planet Venus, astronomers on Earth have discovered signs of what might be life."
New Scientist coverage by @DownHereOnEarth: newscientist.com/article/225441…
"There are no known non-biological mechanisms of making the gas on Venus, so it may be being produced by alien microbes." [Paywalled article]
Axios coverage by @mirikramer: axios.com/scientists-fin…
"Why it matters: Scientists have been musing about the possibility that life exists in Venus' temperate clouds for decades. If confirmed as a sign of life, the finding would open up a new era of science."
Scientific American coverage by @adamspacemann: scientificamerican.com/article/venus-…
"Although toxic to many organisms, the molecule has been singled out as a potentially unambiguous signature of life because it is so difficult to make through ordinary geological or atmospheric action."
National Geographic coverage by @nadiamdrake: nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/0…
"the scientists who today announced sightings of this noxious gas in the Venusian atmosphere say it could be tantalizing—if controversial—evidence of life on the planet next door."
Science News coverage by @astrolisa: sciencenews.org/article/phosph…
"If the discovery holds up, and if no other explanations for the gas are found, then the hellish planet next door could be the first to yield signs of extraterrestrial life — though those are very big ifs."
Thread by @chrislintott with context and commentary on today's Venus announcement:
Thread by @aussiastronomer with context and commentary on today's Venus announcement:
A very brief summary of today's Venus announcement from @davecl42, one of the members of the discovery team:
Venus researchers are, as you might imagine, excited about this! Here’s a comment from @ThePlanetaryGuy:
Here’s a link to the press briefing on the possible Venus biosignature announcement from @RoyalAstroSoc featuring comment from several of the scientists involved, including @jgreaves6 and @ProfSaraSeager: #VenusNews
The Verge coverage by @lorengrush: theverge.com/21428796/venus…
"The gas’s presence isn’t enough to say for sure that Venus hosts life forms, but the fact that it exists in the planet’s clouds indicates that something is going on there that we don’t fully understand."
Here's a link to the technical paper in @NatureAstronomy nature.com/articles/s4155… (unpaywalled)
"The presence of PH3 is unexplained...could originate from unknown photochemistry or geochemistry, or, by analogy with biological production of PH3 on Earth, from the presence of life"
Planetary Society coverage by @CaseyDreier: planetary.org/articles/venus…
“This is the first announcement of a difficult detection that required significant modeling and data analysis… Independent scientific teams must now do the work to confirm this signal.”
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