Before you even start wondering what is phosphine or what the heck does it have to do with life on Venus, just sit and relax and let me take you along the journey.
At one time, where with the sophisticated technological advancements we are looking for life on planets in galaxies millions of light years away, Earth’s twin Venus orbiting beside us is hinting possible signs of life. Single-line millimetre-waveband spectral detections identified 20 ppb abundance of atmospheric phosphine (PH3) on Venus. The observations were made through telescopes situated in Hawaii and Chile, James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALA) respectively in 2017 and 2019. The gas stretched from about 33 to 39 miles above the surface of Venus, which is at indeed brutal and inhospitable conditions.
So what has it got to do with life? Even Jupiter and Saturn have traces of phosphine, but there are no signs of life. This is due to the fact that they are gaseous planets, and due to strong convection currents in deep atmospheres of these planets, phosphine can be formed. Venus and Earth, on the contrary, are rocky planets. On Earth, this toxic and rotting smell-like gas is produced naturally via the action of anaerobic bacteria living in marshlands and sewerage. Artificially, it is manufactured in the industries for agricultural and biological purposes. Even after that, its concentration is in just parts per trillion. Venus, with an oxidative sulphuric acid atmosphere, where C is in the form of CO2, S in H2S04, P present in a reductive form of PH3 in higher concentrations than Earth is alarming and putting up new questions.
As the scientists themselves are insisting on, this doesn’t guarantee the presence of microbes or life-forms on the planet. Although the climatic activities like lightning, volcanoes fall short of explaining it, its surface activity is still mysterious to us and there may be some abiotic route we are unfamiliar with. In the words of Sousa Silva herself, who is working with Jane Greaves and her team on searching for a possible explanation,
“Whether it’s life or not, it has to be a really exotic mechanism. Something weird is happening.”
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