Venus

The New York Times



Life on Venus? Astronomers See Phosphine Signal in Its Clouds

Shannon Stirone, Kenneth Chang and Dennis Overbye 


High in the toxic atmosphere of the planet Venus, astronomers on Earth have discovered signs of what might be life.

If the discovery is confirmed by additional telescope observations and future space missions, it could turn the gaze of scientists toward one of the brightest objects in the night sky. Venus, named after the Roman goddess of beauty, roasts at temperatures of hundreds of degrees and is cloaked by clouds that contain droplets of corrosive sulfuric acid. Few have focused on the rocky planet as a habitat for something living

Instead, for decades, scientists have sought signs of life elsewhere, usually peering outward to Mars and more recently at Europa, Enceladus and other icy moons of the giant planets.

The astronomers, who reported the finding on Monday in a pair of papers, have not collected specimens of Venusian microbes, nor have they snapped any pictures of them. But with powerful telescopes, they have detected a chemical — phosphine — in the thick Venus atmosphere. After much analysis, the scientists assert that something now alive is the only explanation for the chemical’s source.

Some researchers question this hypothesis, and they suggest instead that the gas could result from unexplained atmospheric or geologic processes on a planet that remains mysterious. But the finding will also encourage some planetary scientists to ask whether humanity has overlooked a planet that may have once been more Earthlike than any other world in our solar system.


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VENUS'S GREAT RED SPOT: Some people say "Venus is boring." Viewed through a normal telescope, the second planet appears to be a dull, pale sphere without any distinguishing features. But that's not what amateur astronomer Carmine Gargiulo saw when he looked on Sept. 18th:



"Venus showed several cloud formations and what appears to be a hurricane," says Gargiulo. In the false-color image at right, Venus seems to have its own Great Red Spot.

Transforming Venus from a featureless billard ball into a dynamic planet with obvious storm systems requires one thing: An ultraviolet filter. Venus's atmosphere is s piced with a molecule, OSSO, that absorbs UV radiation. Variations in the density of OSSO trace winds, clouds, cyclones and more.

To capture his images, Gargiulo used a 16-inch telescope and a UV filter (325-405 nm) almost perfectly tuned to the absorption band of OSSO. The second planet is not so boring, after all.


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